Discovering the Truth
by Mystic Vixen
Summary: When a man dressed as Captain America shows up in Central Park, the daughter of Steve Rodgers and Sharon Carter takes it upon herself to find out who the imposter is and why he is there. However she gets into trouble along the way. Please R
1. flour and blood

* * *

_**A/N: I came up with this idea after reading Captain America #25-27. I hope you enjoy it.**_

* * *

The day that had welcomed Steve and his family had been a beautiful one. The sky was a perfect baby blue and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Steve Rodgers had taken his wife Sharron and his daughter out into the country side for a well needed and deserved vacation and it had happened to fall on their daughter's sixth birthday.

Sharron had been working on a cake all day and when Steve had walked into the kitchen last he had seen her covered in flour and the kitchen of the small get way house was a mess. Steve stood there for a moment or two and couldn't help but laugh at his wife. He tried so hard not to so much as crack a smile but he couldn't help it. He loved how she was so determined to make this cake for their daughter and yet she couldn't seem to get any of the mixings into the bowl itself.

"What are you laughing at?" Sharron asked as she tried to dust off her face and apron but it only made things worse. She had flour in her hair, egg all over her hands, and she had just spilt a cup of milk on the floor when Steve had walked in. This was not a good time for him to walk in on her but he didn't seem to care.

"You, Sharron. You look so cute." Steve said with a smile but the smile faded when his wife shot him daggers and so he simply closed the door and left her alone. He knew that if looks could kill, Sharron's death glare would have killed him faster than anything the Red Skull could ever have thrown at him. So he traveled the short distance from the kitchen door to the living room where he saw his daughter, Ray on the floor coloring on some paper.

"What are you drawing sweetie?" he asked as he sat down beside her and saw her pull out blue, red and white crayons but when he tried to look at what she was drawing, she pulled it away and coved it with her arms.

"I'm not done yet daddy!" She said with a giggle in her voice. She didn't want her dad to see what she was drawing because it was a surprise for him. She had been up for a little bit working on the drawing and she wanted it to be just right before she let him see it. Ray used a few more colors all the while keeping an eye on her dad to make sure that he wasn't trying to look at her picture.

Finally it was finished.

"Done daddy." Ray exclaimed as she held the picture up to show him. She was grinning from ear to ear as she busted with joy that she had made a special picture for her dad. Steve looked at the picture and saw five stick figures. One of which was done in black with a little red. Another was done in yellow and red, one in blue and white and one done in red, white and blue. The smallest stick figure was done in all the colors and Steve figured that that was suppose to be Ray.

"Who is that?" Steve asked pointing to the stick figure in black. Even through he knew who all the stick figures were suppose to be, it was a fun little game for her to tell him who everyone was suppose to be.

"Aunt Natasha." She said and Steve smiled. Ray had come to call Tony, Natasha and nearly everyone that Steve had been associated with in the avengers aunt or uncle. They were her family and thats how she saw them and that was just fine with him.

"What about the red and yellow one?"

"Uncle Tony." Ray said and then she said, "This one is mommy and then this one..." Ray said but just as she was pointing to the red, white and blue figure, there was a knock at the door. Steve got up off of the floor to answer it but just as soon as he had answered it there were gun shots and he fell to the ground.

As the six year old sat there screaming at the top of her lungs upon hearing the gun shots, she watched her father's body fall to the floor. Blood from the wounds spilling on to the tile floor where he lay and his white button down t-shirt had turned scarlet red. Ray had no idea what to do, yet alone what was going on. All she knew was that her daddy was lying on the ground not moving and she wanted to go to him but she couldn't. She looked up from her father and saw a man walk into the room. He was very nicely dressed in a black suit and shinny black leather shoes. The gun that he had just used was in his right hand and for a split second he pointed it at Ray.

"Well hello there." Said the man. For the first time Ray managed to look at his face and saw that it wasn't normal. He was the man with the red skull that she had heard her father talking about one night. He tried to touch her but a voice stopped him.

"Get the hell away from my daughter, Lukin."

Ray looked from the man with the red skull to the voice that belonged to her mom and saw that she too held a small gun and was pointing it at the red skull man. Ray ran to her mother and hid behind her, closed her eyes and wished that all this would go away but that wasn't going to happen.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She heard her mother say.

"I've come for the girl." The man said in a deep voice that scared Ray half to death.

"Like hell your gonna take her!!" Sharron said and then Ray heard three gun shots. She opened her eyes and saw that her mother had fallen on top of her father's body and that the man with the Red Skull was clutching his chest. Ray ran to her parents bodies, knelt down and cried.

"Mommy!! Daddy!!" She cried trying to get them to respond to her but they wouldn't. She didn't understand what had happened or why but all she knew was that she was alone. She looked up for a moment and saw the man who had done this. The Red Skull man didn't say anything to her but instead of doing the same thing to her, he left and closed the door behind him.

"Mommy!! Daddy!! I don't wanna be alone!!"

* * *

**_A/N: Please Review._**


	2. Duty Calls

_**A/N:**_ **_thanks for the reviews._**

* * *

"Daddy!! Please!!" Ray screamed as she woke from her horrible nightmare. It took her a moment to recognize where she was but once she realized she was in her apartment loft, she walked to her bath room that was joined with her bed room and splashed ice cold water on to her face.

Why had she had that dream again? That wasn't how it happened. Her father had been assasinated by her mother when her mother was under the control of the Red Skull before she was ever born. Then when her mother did manage to escape the clutches of the Red Skull and had her, she ended up walking right back to the Red Skull and getting killed in an explosion caused by a rescue attempt.

Ray took a deep breath as she looked up from the white sink to the mirror and for a moment she could have sworn that she saw the Red Skull standing behind her. She spun around as fast as she could and was ready to fight but there was no one there. She closed her eyes and tried to relax but she still felt like there was some one in her apartment.

After her parents' deaths, Tony Stark had raised her and ever since Tony had told her the truth, she'd been having nightmares about the Red Skull coming after her next. When she had told Tony about the dreams and had asked why she was having it, he had told her it was probably the only way that her mind could deal with what had happened to her parents. Tony kept trying to reassure her that the Red Skull had been killed and his body had been found but something told Ray that he would be back for her in some way or another. Maybe it was just the fact that both her parents had been his targets but it was a fear that she lived with.

However, Ray knew that she couldn't let this fear control her life. She couldn't let it tell her what she could and could not do with her life no matter how afraid she was. So she had managed to push it to the back of her mind and would not allow it to control her.

Ray finally made her way back to her bed and climbed underneith her blue and black comforter and was just about to relax and go back to sleep when there was a knock at the door. Ray rolled over in her bed to look at the alarm clock on the nightstand and saw that it was only seven in the morning.

Typically at seven in the morning she was busy at S.H.I.E.L.D or at the superhero base camp training others younger than her but today was her day off. She had specifically and formally requested today off so she could sleep in and relax but of course when you are in the superhero buisness nothing goes as planned.

So reluctantly, she moved from her warm loving bed, wrapped her light blue robe around her chilled body and opened the door. On the other side of the apartment loft door stood a tall red headed woman dressed in a black uniform that held neatly placed holes down the sides of her legs.

The woman that Ray was looking at now, was her sister, Amelia Graves. She was born a few years before the Civil war. Her mother left when she was only a few months old and when she was seven; her father was killed in action. Thankfully, The Black Widow was a friend of Amelia's father. He'd stated in his will but never verbally voiced to Natasha, that if anything should happen to him, Amelia was to be left in her care. This came as a shock to the Black Widow but she took the girl into her care. A year later, Ray was born and since Tony practically raised Steve's daughter from infancy, he and Natasha helped each other become a parent that neither one of them thought they could be.

"What do you want?" Ray asked leaning her head against the door as she looked at Amelia through sleepy eyes.

"Good morning to you too Ray." Amelia said with a smile as she walked into the room. Sighing, Ray closed her eyes and said, "I'm not a morning person Amelia."

"Yea I know that." She said sitting on the arm of the reclining chair and continued to look back at her younger sister. She knew Ray wanted her to get to the point but sometimes it was fun to antagonize her little sister. After all isn't that what older sisters did? She watched as Ray closed the door and came over to where she stood and simply stared at her for a moment.

"So back to my question: What do you want?" Ray asked once more but this time, she let her sister know that she was serious about getting an answer. She did not like getting woken up at seven yet alone on a day that she was suppose to have off.

"Actually, it's not what I want." Amelia said, "Tony wants to see you."

"Why?" Ray asked cautiously. Tony never summoned her this way. Typically if he wanted to see her, he called for her personally or came and got her, himself. What was going on that he couldn't do what he normally did himself?

"I don't know. I didn't ask." Amelia said and Ray knew that was true. She had never been trained to ask questions about what she was being asked to do. Perhaps that was part of the training Black Widow gave her since it was in her training to begin with. "I was just sent here, after pulling the short straw, to come and get you."

"I'm….wait, you pulled straws to come and get me?"

"Yea. Told you, everyone knows you're not a morning person." Amelia said trying not to laugh. Everyone knew that Ray had a temper on her and no one wanted to be on the butt end of that temper and you never wanted to be the one who caused her temper to go off. She had controlled it over the years but that didn't mean that she was a morning person.

"I'm off. I'm not going in and you can tell Tony that for me." Ray said shaking her head. She had made sure that she had gone throught the proper channels to get her day off so that something like this would not happen and yet it still did. People who were in their line of business, really never caught a break did they? She had wanted to make sure that no one thought that she was getting special treatment from Tony because she was the "daughter" of the Director of S.H.E.I.L.D but apparently, that hadn't worked either and Tony was still calling her in but why? None of this was clear.

"Ray, you know better than to get Tony mad."

"That serious huh?" Ray asked crossing her arms as she watched Amelia nod her head. Ray knew it was not a good thing when Tony was mad seeing as how his temper was somewhat longer than her's. Maybe not by much but longer none the less. If he was in the middle of some huge mess with some baddies and he needed Ray and she didn't come, there'd be no getting out of hearing him yell at her for it later. So it seemed that she really had no choice but to go with Amelia and see why Tony was calling her in on the day that she had planned to do nothing but lay around and relax. She sighed and said, "Fine but I want a week off for this!"

"You'll have to take it up with the boss man." Amelia said as she watched Ray go into her bedroom and when she came out a moment later she was dressed in her S.H.E.I.L.D issued uniform. It may have been S.H.E.I.L.D issued but Ray had added a few things to it to make it her own. For instance I had added a leather bicker vest that she wore over the uniform and had added blue star shots to either side of her arms and legs. Amelia still wasn't sure why she had done this but she had and no one had really said anything about it so she figured that she would allow her younger sister to get away with it this time.

"Believe me I will." Ray said as she followed Amelia out of her loft apratment and to the hover car that would take them to S.H.E.I.L.D Headquarters.

* * *

_**A/N: Please Review**_

* * *


	3. Surprises

**_A/N: Thx for the reviews._**

* * *

Amelia landed the hover car on the tarmac and getting out of the hover car.

"A, what happened to the new piece of teleportation teck that S.H.E.I.L.D. just issued?" Ray asked getting out of the car and following her sister into the flying ship.

"I didn't feel like using it." Amelia said as they walked to a conference room door and at first Ray thought this was strange that he was wanting to see her in a conference room instead of his office but Tony was always full of surprises.

"You broke it didn't you?" Ray asked flat out.

"No!" Amelia said defending herself, "I didn't break it."

"Lost it then?"

Amelia didn't say anything for a moment but the finally nodded her head and said, "Its probably in my room somewhere."

"You know Tony doesn't like you loosing things like that." Ray said as Amelia knocked on the door and they heard Tony's voice on the other side say, "Come."

"Yea I know." Amelia said as she begin to walk off but she stopped her sister before she turned the corner.

"You're not coming with me?" Ray asked Amelia who had always served not only as her sister and a loyal friend but her protector as well. She felt that she needed that protection now but strangely Amelia was not willing to give it. Could Ray really have done something to have made not only Tony angry with her but Amelia unwilling to protect her from his wrath?

"Sorry Ray." She said simply, "But he didn't call for me."

A moment later she had turned the corner leaving Ray to stand before Tony alone. Taking a deep breath Ray slowly opened the door and a split second later my ears were flooded with loud cries of joy.

"SURPRISE!!"

Ray nearly fell over upon seeing and hearing everyone but never hit the ground because someone steadied my balance from behind. She turned and saw Amelia smiling once more,

"Thought you weren't coming." She said standing straight.

"Nah, just said that so you'd open the door. You know I've always got your back sis."

"Happy Birthday." Came a familiar voice and when Ray looked in the direction of the voice, she saw Tony standing there smiling.

"Thanks Tony." Ray said and as she looked around the small office, she saw that nearly everyone she knew was there. Her best friend Danielle Cage stood next to Natalia and several agents that she had befriended in training were there as well. But not everyone was present for this part. The only person that was missing was James Buchanan or Bucky as Ray and everyone else called him. She hadn't seen him in awhile to begin with so it wasn't that big of a deal but she still couldn't help and feel alittle disappointed that he wasn't there.

"Happy Birthday, Ray." Danielle said as she came to me with a gift in her hands. I took it and was about to open it when Tony took it from me, placed it on a near by table and said, "Come with me first."

"'Tony." Natalia said, "We haven't had cake yet."

"Presents before cake Natasha." Tony said grinning for ear to ear as he took Ray by the hand and lead her out of the room saying, "And biggest present first."

They walked together from the office to another larger room down the hall and upon arriving in this room, Ray saw two things. One was Bucky. Ray felt relief when she saw the man who was practically her brother standing behind the conference table. There was something on the conference table that caught her eye and upon looking at it further, she realized that it was a neatly wrapped present. Ray figured Natalia or Amelia had wrapped the present because there was no way that Bucky or Tony knew how to make a present look that good. They both knew how to win in a fight but wrap presents they did not. Regardless of who had wrapped the present, Ray was worried about what was in the package. Over the last few years, Tony had been hinting at her to take up her father's mantel and become not only an official superhero but Captain America but there was just one problem with that. She didn't want her father's mantel.

Walking over to the table, Bucky stood to his feet and wrapped Ray in a huge hug. It had been a while since he had seen his best friend's daughter and it did him good to see her now. She was like a sister to him and wanted to do everything he could to take care of her and protect her because he knew that is what Steve would have wanted.

"Happy birthday kiddo."

"Thanks Bucky but I'm not a kiddo anymore." Ray simply said with a smile.

"True but doesn't mean I'm gonna stop using it."

Ray laughed as she looked from Tony to the present and back to Tony.

"Open it." He finally said and Ray attacked the present as if it were a villain coming after her. She may have had a feeling about what was in it and she knew what Tony wanted from her but that didn't mean that she didn't like presents. Everyone loved presents. As she ripped passed the golden glittery paper and opened the box's top she saw exactly what she was afraid of.

"Tony…."

"Every superhero needs a uniform." He said, "I know you wanted to make your own but I saw this and couldn't resist."

Ray pulled the uniform out and laid it out on the table to get a better look at it. The two piece uniform seemed to be her size and how on earth Tony knew her measurements, she knew she would never know but then again if someone sneezed strangely in china he'd know with his technology that he had equipped S.H.E.I.L.D with. The top to the uniform was blue and had dozen of tiny stars up and down the left side. She did a fast count and found there were fifty of them and as she looked at the blue tights and red and white cape, her fears were confirmed.

_Tony wants me to be Captain America_. Ray thought as emotions came rushing through her blood. She didn't know weither to be mad at Tony and Bucky for doing this or to thank them for the uniform. She didn't know what to do. She had told Tony over and over again that she didn't want to take her father's mantel and when she turned to look at Tony, Bucky stood there with the shield that had once been held by her father.

"No." She flat out said and her heart began to sink as she saw Bucky and Tony's faces begin to dim.

"What?" Tony asked, "Why not?" Tony asked as if he was surprised but he wasn't. He knew that Ray didn't want this but he wanted it for her. He had this vision of her taking her father's mantel and calling herself Captain America, of following in her father's footsteps. He felt he had to try at least one more time that this is what she needed to do.

"I can't live up to my father's legacy like you and everyone and their dog want me to. Bucky, you of all people should know how hard it is to get people to accept a new Captain America."

"Ray, you don't have to worry about that." Tony said cutting in before James could say anything, "Everything will work out find. After all you are your father's daughter."

"And I personally believe people will accept you as Captian America since you are Steve's kid." Bucky said. He remembered when people did not accept him as Captain America. Back then people were still hurting because of Steve's death. Heck people were still hurting because of the Civil War and so when he took the mantel of Captain America, it didn't help for a time and yet some how over time some people had grown to accept that he was the New Captain America but not everyone. However, if the daughter of Steve Rodgers took his name they would feel that the mantel had gone to someone who deserved it perhaps. Someone who had inherited it maybe. He didn't know for sure but that was how he defiantly felt.

"Maybe but I am not going to take his name, fail at something and ruin his good name. Some all ready believe he was a traitor as it is because you made him choose sides."

"Ray, don't go there." If anyone knew what it was like to be angry at Tony Stark for the death of Captain America, it was Bucky. He had at one point tried to kill Tony because he felt that it was Stark's fault for his best friend, and mentor's death and somehow, he still wasn't sure how, he ended up agreeing to take up the mantel of Captain America instead of killing his would be enemy. He knew that Steve would not have wanted him to kill Tony but at the time he was angry with the man that he didn't care but eventually he came to realize that killing Tony would not have gotten him anywhere.

"Its all right James." Tony said as he thought about what he was going to say to his "daughter" and said, "Ray, I didn't make Steve do anything."

As he spoke, Tony used the same even tone that Ray had used with him. There was a silence for a while as Ray tried to control the anger that had so suddenly came upon her. She tried so hard not to blame Tony for her father's death but sometimes it was hard because there was no one to blame. The Red Skull was gone. Agent 13 was gone and even the sniper that had first thought to have been the one who had killed Steve Rodgers was gone and all was left was Tony Stark the scapegoat.

"Tony, I'm sorry." She said as she ran her hand through her long blonde hair, "I know my father chose on his own but you didn't make it easy on him."

"I know and for that I am sorry, Ray. I really, truly am. You know that he got the burial for the hero that he was. I made sure that people saw him for what he truly was."

"And that was what exactly?" Ray asked even thought she knew what he was going to say, she felt that she needed to hear it.

"A true American hero that held the country together. Something I, nor James, have ever been able to do no matter how hard we tried."

That was really why he was trying to get Ray to take her father's mantel. He thought that since her father had been the one that had literally held America together in more ways than one, more times than one, Tony felt that Steve's daughter could do the same thing. If only she were willing. He knew he shouldn't shove her into doing something she didn't want to do and he would have to accept that sooner or later.

"Listen, I won't make you do this. You are registered but you don't have to take Steve's mantel. If you decide to follow your father's footsteps, I will be meeting with the press at five. I'm going to announce your regestraion to them and it would be better it you were there."

Ray nodded her head as she sat on the table next to the uniform as Tony excused himself and left the room, leaving Bucky and Ray alone. A moment or two passed between Bucky and I until he jumped onto the table next to me and asked, "What ya thinkin' kiddo?"

Ray couldn't help but laugh at the fact that he kept calling her "kiddo". She hadn't been a "kiddo" in years and yet he still used the nickname. She knew he would always use it though. It was always hard to change a habit and calling her "kiddo" was a habit for Bucky. A habit she doubted he was willing to break. Regardless, her nickname was not what he had asked her about and she knew she had to answer his question and so reluctantly she sighed and did just that.

"Thinking I can't do this."

"Do what? Take your father's mantel?"

"Not just that."

"Then what?" Bucky asked not sure he understood what his friend was saying.

"Being a superhero. I mean as soon as Tony announces that I am officially a superhero, their eyes are going to be all over me."

"Aren't their eyes all ready on you?"

"Yea but they'll watch me closer than ever. I'll have to watch what I say, do, eat. And what about you?"

"What about me?"

"I mean, you have the name Captain America right now. I can't take that from you."

"Ray, it'll be ok." Bucky said wrapping an arm around her shoulders, "If you decide to take your father's mantel, I'll step down and gladly give it to you."

"Really? I mean you would do that?"

"Yea why not? That's what family does right? And as far as the press goes, your worrying about nothing."

"You think so?"

"Yea. Tony'll take care of the press like he always has." He said jumping off the table and saying, "Now what do you say we get back to your party?"

"Thought you'd never ask." Ray said placing the uniform back in the box as the two of them walked back to the room to celebrate her twentieth birthday.

* * *

**_A/N: Sorry if this was kind of long. I couldn't find any place to cut it in half so I just left it. Please Review_**


	4. Protecting a Legacy

**_A/n: Hey guys, sorry for the long wait for a new chapter but this story is going through a revamp. i had an idea while talking to a friend of mine a few weeks ago. This story is going to be more about Ray than anyone else and more about how she feels about things that are going to happen later on. I am still going to have two children of the avengers besides Ray herself. This revamp does not change anything that I have previously posted and therefore I am able to proceed with this revamp and story. However because I am going to make this about Ray, I am going to change the title of the story. Now do not fear, there will be a story after this with this stories original title. (New Generation of Avengers) I have every intention of following through with that story using Ray and the characters from this story and adding the children of the avengers that I originally planned to place into this one. Now if you wish to give me ideas about possable characters for the avengers story please feel free to send me a message. Thanks and I hope you enjoy.  
_**

* * *

The party lasted awhile and the next thing Ray knew, she only had an hour to make up her mind about what she would tell Tony. She knew she wanted to be a superhero even if she did have her doubts but at that moment in time that was not what was in question. What was question was would she use Tony's uniform and call herself Captain America? She knew the country needed someone to look up to above everyone else since those who once filled that position were gone for one reason or another but could she really be that hero?

Could she be the one this country needed to pull it back together and make it the way it once was? She didn't know. But she wouldn't know unless she tried right? So donning the uniform Tony had given her, she walked down to the press conference room and upon walking in found Tony talking about his next technological project for S.H.E.I.L.D.

He, however, stopped talking about it when he saw Ray standing next to him. He looked her once over and smiled but before he said anything she whispered, "I'm not taking his name."

"The uniform?"

"Every superhero needs a uniform right?"

He nodded his head and as she looked around saw her father's shield leaning against the podium.

"How'd you know I'd come?" She asked pointing to the shield.

"I didn't." He replied, "But I brought the shield just in case." He was about to talk to the press on my behalf when Ray stopped him once more.

"Let me talk to them."

"You sure?" He asked, "I don't want to throw you to the lions."

"Tony, I'm twenty years old. I think its time people learned that the daughter of Steve Rodgers has a voice of her own."

He simply nodded his head as he said into the mic, "People I am now going to allow Ray Rodgers to answer any questions you may have regarding her official regestraion."

Butterflies suddenly came into Ray's stomach as she took her place at the podium. She had never spoken to the public before yet alone the press. Tony had always controlled the press around her so that she could have somewhat of a normal childhood but he couldn't do it forever and she wasn't a child anymore.

"Good evening." Ray began, "As you all know I am Ray Rodgers. Daughter of the late Captain America and Agent 13 Sharon Carter. I am here to officially state that I am a registered superhero and am joining the initiative.

"Are you going to take your father's uniform?" Came a question.

"Is the current Captain America willing to step down so you can replace him?" Came another question.

"Allow me to state that I am not going to take my father's place as Captain America now or ever."

"Will you have your own name then?"

"Yes," Ray replied with her head held high, "My name is Sanction. Meaning Justice. I stand for the same things my father stood for."

"So you plan to be a traitor like your father?" A man dressed in a rather nice black suit asked standing to his feet.

For a moment Ray said nothing. It took her a moment to processes what the man had said yet alone how to respond to him.

"I beg your pardon?" Ray asked as she felt Tony moving closer to her. He had been standing close to the door but when he heard that reporter's question he immediately came to Ray's side.

"Don't let them see you angry." Tony whispered in her ear as she tried to control her temper but if this reporter said one more thing against her father, she knew she would loose it. She may never have actually met her father but she knew about his legacy and what a great man he was and she felt it was her job to defend him to the end. It was the least she could do as his daughter.

"With all due respect ma'am," The reporter said, "You said you stood for the same things your father did. Your father was nothing more than a traitor in sheep's clothing."

Her jaw began to clintch as her anger grew. She could not believe what this man was saying. She couldn't believe that he actually had the nerve to address her father's memory and legacy in such away yet alone to her face. Her fingers began to grip the sides of the podium and doing so inevitably caused the sides to break.

"I will have you know sir," She said trying as hard as she could to control her anger, "My father stood for……"

"You never even met your father little girl. How could you possibly know what he stood for? Captain America is dead and is better off that way!"

_That's it! I've had it! _Ray thought. No one, man or woman, would treat her father's memory with such blatant disrespect as long as she had something to say about it. Without hesitation or even thinking, she reached for the shield that rested against the podium and chunked it at the man. She used the same force that her father had used and hit the man and pinned him up against the wall to the left of the stage.

**"Ray!" **Tony yelled but nothing he could say would do anything to stop her. She heard nothing as she walked over to the man with anger in her eyes.  
"What's your name?" Ray simply asked as calmly as she could but you could still hear the anger in her voice.

"Robert." The man said with a shaky voice. At first she thought his voice was shacky because he was in pain but then realized the shield only pinned his suit jacket and not his shoulder. Therefore his voice was shaky out of fear.

_Good, I wanted him to fear me._ She wanted him to be afraid of what was going to happen and what she would do to him. Even if she wasn't going to harm him in any way but he didn't need to know that.

"Well Robert, listen to me and listen good because I won't say it again," She said in her even monotone voice that held all my anger at this man, "I may not have met my father but I know all about him because of the people who raised me. My father was a great man. He did more for this country that you or anyone could, would or will ever do. He died twice to save your right to talk this way about him! He may have tolerated it but I won't. If you ever speak that way about Captain America in my presence ever again, you will no longer be able to use your freedom of speech. Am I understood?"

Robert simply nodded his head and Ray grabbed the shield out of the wall and walked out of the room.

**A/n: Please Review. **

* * *


	5. Duking it out

* * *

A/N: Thanks for the reviews. I hope you enjoy.

* * *

Punching the boxing bag that had been made just for her, Ray attempted to work out her anger at the reporter. She knew Tony would not be happy with her for what had happened but she didn't care. All she cared about was defending her father's legacy. The door to the workout room opened and Tony walked in and she knew immediately that he was upset.

"Ray." Tony said trying to get Ray's attention but she wouldn't give it to him.

**"Ray!**" Tony said again, "We need to talk."

"No! We don't have to do anything!"

"Your behavior in there…."

**"Was unacceptable! I know Tony!"** She yelled at him. She didn't want to talk but She knew she would eventually but not now!

"I've all ready set up another press conference to do some clean up. You'll need to apologize for your actions."

"Why?" She asked simply.

"What?" He had heard what she had said but he was really wondering why she had said it.

**"Why do I need to apologize for something I'm not sorry I did?"**

Tony had no idea what to say to that. He had always tried to clean up every mess that he made or that someone else close to him had made and here he was doing just that and the person who he was trying to help didn't want it. She wasn't willing to do anything he said to get her reputation back on track. True she may have had every right to do what she had done but that still did not make it right. However, Tony knew he wouldn't be able to get through to Ray this way. Not with her as upset as she was. He was never able to get through to Steve when he thought he was right either. Maybe if he had maybe his friend would still be alive? No there was no sense in still thinking that way after all these years. Tony walked out of the gym door and leaned up against the wall.

"She being difficult again?"

Tony turned and saw Natasha standing next to him. He hadn't seen her standing there but then again that was probably the point. Tony may have been able to see just about anything with any piece of technology, but Natasha had been trained to be invisible and she had taught Amelia the same skills.

"Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry Tony. I didn't mean to startle you. So, Ray's being difficult?"

"When is Ray not being difficult?" Tony asked and was going to leave it at that but something possessed him to continue, "I walked in there and she basically ignored me. I tried to tell her that I would clean this whole mess up and all she had to do was to apologize but she slammed that in my face too."

"Don't get yourself all worked up about this darling." She said smiling placing an arm around Tony's shoulders, "She is upset and she won't talk when she is upset. You know that."

"I know but…"

"..but what?"

"I try to help her and all she does is shoot me down!." Tony said.

Just then Amelia came up Natasha and said, "Where's Ray? Is she all right?"

"She's in the gym." Tony said, "She won't talk to anyone."

"I'll get her to talk."

"How do you plan to do that, Amelia?" Natasha asked but Amelia simply smiled and said, "Trust me. I'll get her to talk. Tony, go wait in your office for her and I'll have here there in about five minutes."

Amelia walked passed Tony and Natasha and saw Ray attacking the punching back like there was no tomorrow. She didn't look at Amelia but she knew that Ray knew she was there. A few moments passed before either one said anything but finally Ray broke the silence.

"Don't want to talk, Amelia."

"Okay don't. Fight me."

Ray's punches became slower and fewer until finally they stopped all together and she simply looked at Amelia wondering why she had just said what she had said. Her sister wanted to fight? Literally throw punches at each other? Finally, Amelia spoke trying to clear up Ray's confusion.

"You've obviously got something bothering you and since you don't want to talk about it the best thing is for you to fight. Now your form is sloppy and the only reason your actually hitting the punching bag is because its not moving."

"Fine." Ray said even thought what her sister had just said annoyed her.

"Tell ya what," Amelia said, "Let's make a bet."

"A bet?" Ray asked knowing that Amelia never made any kind of bets with anyone and yet here she was making a bet with her over this whole thing. What had gotten into her sister?

"Yea. A bet. If you win, I'll do your duties plus mine for two months."

"And if you win?"

"If I win," Amelia said, "You have to talk to Tony and do what it takes to fix this mess."

Ha, the word that no matter if you were a superhero or a Politian, meant trouble.

"All right," Ray said preparing myself for the fight, "Your on."

"I'll even let you take the first hit little sis." Amelia said with a smile. Typically, a smile such as hers would have worried Ray but anger was what fueled her now. Ray charged Amelia and would have tackled her had she done a back flip over her head landing behind her.

Ray managed to stop herself before running into the wall and as she watched Amelia circle her, she tried to control her anger enough where she could concentrated on what she needed to do in order to beat Amelia. The next thing Ray knew, she had a foot in her face and was on her back looking up. Amelia came over to make her next move but Ray managed to wrap her legs around Amelia's and pull her down on to the mat.

"Nice move." Amelia said and before Ray knew it the two of them were wrestling on the floor. It wasn't S.H.E.I.L.D style fighting anymore because they were both fighting out of pure instinct. This lasted for a while but inevitably it ended with Amelia's knee in the back of Ray's neck.

"You give up?"

"I ain't ever gonna give up." Ray said still showing anger in her voice.

"Well you aren't going to beat me. At least not like this."

"Like what?"

"Ray, your filled with anger and your not thinking clearly."

"You expect me not to be angry?" Ray asked knowing that she knew what had happened.

"No but I expect you to be a little more tactful when dealing with moron reporters." Amelia said as she released me and helped me to my feet, "Now, Tony's in his office waiting for you."

"How'd you know you'd beat me?"

"Come on Ray, you're my little sis. I know everything about you. Wasn't hard. Now get going."

Ray simply took a deep breath as she walked the hall to Tony's office.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry if this one was alittle long but there was no place that I felt was right to cut it off and start a new chapter. Please review.**


	6. Making a Deal

**A/N: Enjoy**

* * *

The fight with Ameilia had actually calmed her to the point where she could think clearly and rationally. She tapped gently on the door and for a moment didn't hear anything and just when she thought he wasn't in his office, she heard his voice. She entered with a sorrowful look in her eye as she stood before him.

"Tony I…" She began but he simply held up his hand and said, "Treating the reporter the way you did, not paying attention to what he said, is unacceptable. People look to superheroes for protection not to get pinned to the wall by a red, white and blue shield."

"I know. I was suppose to announce my registration and instead I made a fool of myself and messed up my name before I could even make it."

"Ray, I'm not saying what you did was entirely wrong."

"Huh?" Ray asked looking at him for the first time since she entered the room. If he didn't believe she was wrong then why was he reading her the right act? Times like these tony didn't make much sense.

"You were right to stand up for your father's memory."

"But?"

"But you could have handled it better. Even though the guy deserved everything you gave him, you are now in a position where the press will eat you alive if you let them."

"So what do I do?" Ray asked the man who had always controlled the press around her until she messed it up. So now she had to clean it up but not without help.

"Ray, meet the first three members of your team." Tony said as he laid three files out on his desk and when Ray looked at them she saw the files belonged to Amelia, Danielle Cage and an IronMan android.

"My team?" Ray asked looking at the files.

"Yes, Ray. Your team. We want to gain credibility with the public and the press. By making you the leader of a team, we will accomplish just that. The rest of your team will be chosen tomorrow by myself from the initiative base."

"No." Ray said not making eye contact with Tony as she continued to look at the files. She had fought with Amelia and Danielle Cage before but the android was new and Ray suspected that Tony had built him espesually for this team as a way to keep an eye on her.

"No?" Tony asked crossing his arms, "Ray I don't think you are in a position to argue here."

"Tony, I want to pick the rest of my team." Ray said plainly. She had friends that she had one day hoped to be on a team with and she wanted them to be considered to the job but if Tony created her team, the people she wanted on the team would probably not make it on there.

Tony was silent for a few moments and then said, "Fine. You can pick the rest of the team but you have to tell me when you have them."

"Deal." Ray said smiling and she shook Tony's hand closing the deal.

Punching the boxing bag that had been made just for her, Ray attempted to work out her anger at the reporter. She knew Tony would not be happy with her for what had happened but she didn't care. All she cared about was defending her father's legacy. The door to the workout room opened and Tony walked in and she knew immediately that he was upset.

"Ray." Tony said trying to get Ray's attention but she wouldn't give it to him.

Ray!" Tony said again, "We need to talk."

"No! We don't have to do anything!"

"Your behavior in there…."

"Was unacceptable! I know Tony!" She yelled at him. She didn't want to talk but She knew she would eventually but not now!

"I've all ready set up another press conference to do some clean up. You'll need to apologize for your actions."

"Why?" She asked simply.

"What?" He had heard what she had said but he was really wondering why she had said it.

"Why do I need to apologize for something I'm not sorry I did?"

Tony had no idea what to say to that. He had always tried to clean up every mess that he made or that someone else close to him had made and here he was doing just that and the person who he was trying to help didn't want it. She wasn't willing to do anything he said to get her reputation back on track. True she may have had every right to do what she had done but that still did not make it right. However, Tony knew he wouldn't be able to get through to Ray this way. Not with her as upset as she was. He was never able to get through to Steve when he thought he was right either. Maybe if he had maybe his friend would still be alive? No there was no sense in still thinking that way after all these years. Tony walked out of the gym door and leaned up against the wall.

"She being difficult again?"

Tony turned and saw Natasha standing next to him. He hadn't seen her standing there but then again that was probably the point. Tony may have been able to see just about anything with any piece of technology, but Natasha had been trained to be invisible and she had taught Amelia the same skills.

"Don't sneak up on me like that."

"Sorry Tony. I didn't mean to startle you. So, Ray's being difficult?"

"When is Ray not being difficult?" Tony asked and was going to leave it at that but something possessed him to continue, "I walked in there and she basically ignored me. I tried to tell her that I would clean this whole mess up and all she had to do was to apologize but she slammed that in my face too."

"Don't get yourself all worked up about this darling." She said smiling placing an arm around Tony's shoulders, "She is upset and she won't talk when she is upset. You know that."

"I know but…"

"..but what?"

"I try to help her and all she does is shoot me down!." Tony said.

Just then Amelia came up Natasha and said, "Where's Ray? Is she all right?"

"She's in the gym." Tony said, "She won't talk to anyone."

"I'll get her to talk."

"How do you plan to do that, Amelia?" Natasha asked but Amelia simply smiled and said, "Trust me. I'll get her to talk. Tony, go wait in your office for her and I'll have here there in about five minutes."

Amelia walked passed Tony and Natasha and saw Ray attacking the punching back like there was no tomorrow. She didn't look at Amelia but she knew that Ray knew she was there. A few moments passed before either one said anything but finally Ray broke the silence.

"Don't want to talk, Amelia."

"Okay don't. Fight me."

Ray's punches became slower and fewer until finally they stopped all together and she simply looked at Amelia wondering why she had just said what she had said. Her sister wanted to fight? Literally throw punches at each other? Finally, Amelia spoke trying to clear up Ray's confusion.

"You've obviously got something bothering you and since you don't want to talk about it the best thing is for you to fight. Now your form is sloppy and the only reason your actually hitting the punching bag is because its not moving."

"Fine." Ray said even thought what her sister had just said annoyed her.

"Tell ya what," Amelia said, "Let's make a bet."

"A bet?" Ray asked knowing that Amelia never made any kind of bets with anyone and yet here she was making a bet with her over this whole thing. What had gotten into her sister?

"Yea. A bet. If you win, I'll do your duties plus mine for two months."

"And if you win?"

"If I win," Amelia said, "You have to talk to Tony and do what it takes to fix this mess."

Ha, the word that no matter if you were a superhero or a Politian, meant trouble.

"All right," Ray said preparing myself for the fight, "Your on."

"I'll even let you take the first hit little sis." Amelia said with a smile. Typically, a smile such as hers would have worried Ray but anger was what fueled her now. Ray charged Amelia and would have tackled her had she done a back flip over her head landing behind her.

Ray managed to stop herself before running into the wall and as she watched Amelia circle her, she tried to control her anger enough where she could concentrated on what she needed to do in order to beat Amelia. The next thing Ray knew, she had a foot in her face and was on her back looking up. Amelia came over to make her next move but Ray managed to wrap her legs around Amelia's and pull her down on to the mat.

"Nice move." Amelia said and before Ray knew it the two of them were wrestling on the floor. It wasn't S.H.E.I.L.D style fighting anymore because they were both fighting out of pure instinct. This lasted for a while but inevitably it ended with Amelia's knee in the back of Ray's neck.

"You give up?"

"I ain't ever gonna give up." Ray said still showing anger in her voice.

"Well you aren't going to beat me. At least not like this."

"Like what?"

"Ray, your filled with anger and your not thinking clearly."

"You expect me not to be angry?" Ray asked knowing that she knew what had happened.

"No but I expect you to be a little more tactful when dealing with moron reporters." Amelia said as she released me and helped me to my feet, "Now, Tony's in his office waiting for you."

"How'd you know you'd beat me?"

"Come on Ray, you're my little sis. I know everything about you. Wasn't hard. Now get going."

Ray simply took a deep breath as she walked the hall to Tony's office. The fight with Ameilia had actually calmed her to the point where she could think clearly and rationally. She tapped gently on the door and for a moment didn't hear anything and just when she thought he wasn't in his office, she heard his voice. She entered with a sorrowful look in her eye as she stood before him.

"Tony I…" She began but he simply held up his hand and said, "Treating the reporter the way you did, not paying attention to what he said, is unacceptable. People look to superheroes for protection not to get pinned to the wall by a red, white and blue shield."

"I know. I was suppose to announce my registration and instead I made a fool of myself and messed up my name before I could even make it."

"Ray, I'm not saying what you did was entirely wrong."

"Huh?" Ray asked looking at him for the first time since she entered the room. If he didn't believe she was wrong then why was he reading her the right act? Times like these tony didn't make much sense.

"You were right to stand up for your father's memory."

"But?"

"But you could have handled it better. Even though the guy deserved everything you gave him, you are now in a position where the press will eat you alive if you let them."

"So what do I do?" Ray asked the man who had always controlled the press around her until she messed it up. So now she had to clean it up but not without help.

"Ray, meet the first three members of your team." Tony said as he laid three files out on his desk and when Ray looked at them she saw the files belonged to Amelia, Danielle Cage and an IronMan android.

"My team?" Ray asked looking at the files.

"Yes, Ray. Your team. We want to gain credibility with the public and the press. By making you the leader of a team, we will accomplish just that. The rest of your team will be chosen tomorrow by myself from the initiative base."

"No." Ray said not making eye contact with Tony as she continued to look at the files. She had fought with Amelia and Danielle Cage before but the android was new and Ray suspected that Tony had built him espesually for this team as a way to keep an eye on her.

"No?" Tony asked crossing his arms, "Ray I don't think you are in a position to argue here."

"Tony, I want to pick the rest of my team." Ray said plainly. She had friends that she had one day hoped to be on a team with and she wanted them to be considered to the job but if Tony created her team, the people she wanted on the team would probably not make it on there.

Tony was silent for a few moments and then said, "Fine. You can pick the rest of the team but you have to tell me when you have them."

"Deal." Ray said smiling and she shook Tony's hand closing the deal.

* * *

**A/N: Okay so I have left the fact that Ray needs to form a team in order to recreate what little image she had but things are about to change. Things are about to happen that cause her to think twice. Please review  
**

* * *


	7. The Impossable

That night, Ray hardly got any sleep. She wanted to make sure she got the right people on her team and so she had all the files on the original, new and mighty avengers copied and transferred to her computer at her place in Stark Tower. She knew there had to be chemesty between the people she picked. Now they may not like each other at first but that was how all the other teams started out. She flipped through file after file of possible candidates. There was Komodo, who was among the first ones to graduate from the training camp and was currently stationed in Alabama. A few more people popped up, one of which was the son of the Black Panther and Storm. Now, Ray wanted him on her team no doubt. She had befriended him a while back when she assisted him with rescuing his mother. He had inherited his mother's flight and ability weild lighting and her inherited his father's reflexes and cunning skills. He would defiantly prove to be an asset to the team if she could get him to agree to it.

As she was flipping through the files, she also flipped through the channels for something to watch and at two o'clock in the morning there was really nothing on. So she simply picked a channel and left it but before too long the program that had been on was interrupted by a breaking news report.

"We interrupt this program to bring you this breaking news report." This caught Ray's attention and so she placed her laptop aside for a moment and watched the unfolding story. "We have just gotten word that Captain America was spotted in Central Park."

At first this didn't mean anything to Ray but then she thought about it for a moment and wondered why they were making a big deal about seeing Captain America if it was Bucky? It couldn't possibly be…...

Her thoughts were interrupted by a woman who was apparently at Central Park reporting on what was going on. There on the screen behind the woman was none other than a man dressed in the same uniform Steve Rodgers had once worn but something was strange. Not that Steve Rodgers coming back from the dead wasn't strange in and of itself but this man was fighting heroes. Men and Women that Ray had graduated with from the training academy. But why? None of this made any sense.

She reached for the phone and began to dial an number as fast as she could as she turned the volume up on the television. The phone rang and rang for awhile and she was afraid no one would answer.

"Come on pick up. Pick up!" Ray said and just then she heard, "Hello?"

"James!" She said realizing that the man on the television was not who she had hoped it had been, "Turn the TV on and turn it to channel 10."

"Ray? Is that you? What's going on?" He asked as he tried to wake up. He had been in the middle of a rather pleasant dream when Ray called but judging by how she had called him James and not Bucky, something must have been up. He got out of bed and walked into the living room of his loft, turned the TV on. He did as Ray had instructed and saw what she no doubt had wanted him to see. His one time friend and mentor fighting against heroes that were not much older that Ray herself.

Silence filled the air for a few moments and she feared that something had happened to Bucky but finally he spoke.

"I see it Ray." He said as he watched the battle unfold. The man dressed in the same uniform as his mentor fought in the exact same style but it couldn't be him. It wasn't him. There was something off about the way he moved. The way he acted and maybe it was also the fact that he was fighting the good guys.

"Please tell me that is not him!" Ray simply said as she held her breath waiting for an answer. She didn't think it was mainly because her father had been dead for at least twenty years and there was no way that he would possibly come back from a gunshot wounds to the stomach.

"It's not." He said knowing that she had called him for that. She had seen it and knew there was one person who could tell the difference between the real Captain America and an imposter.

"Buck.." Ray said beginning to think about something that she hadn't thought about yet.

"What?"

"If that man isn't my father and he isn't you, then who is he?" Ray said as she paused the news flash on the imposter.

"I don't know kiddo." He said turning the TV off and heading to his room to get his uniform on, "But we'll find out. I'm coming to get you."

* * *

The Bridge was buzzing with commotion when Tony walk in and as soon as he did nearly every agent began telling him what was going on. He held his hand up to signal silence and when he looked to the woman in charge, she told him what was happening.

"It seems that there is a situation, Anthony." Natasha said as she pulled it up on to the big screen. Tony looked at the screen and saw a battle that he thought he would never see espesually since the man that was causing the situation was suppose to be dead.

"How long has this been going on?" Tony simply asked but it was not Natasha who answered him. It was a young man about twenty five who had been with SHEILD for at least three years.

"We are unsure at this time sir…."

"Find out Agent Michaels." Tony said as he left the bridge and without missing a beat, Natasha turned to Michaels and said, "Notify the Mighty Avengers and tell them they are needed in Central park. These young heroes need help. You have the bridge. Notify me as soon as you have something."

"Ma'am? What about the Director?" He asked.

"Everything goes through me." She said calmly. She wanted to make sure that Tony kept an open mind about the situation at hand and didn't do anything stupid. "Our objective is to contain this and get him in custody. Is that Understood?"

"Yes Ma'am." Michaels said standing to his feet as he was about to take over the bridge. He looked to another agent and nodded for him to contact the Mighty Avengers as Natasha was about to leave the room.

"I will be back Agent Michaels." Natasha said heading to the door and when she left she pulled out her com-link and called her daughter. "Amelia, head to the bridge. We have a situation and I want you to supervise Michaels."

"Where are you?" Amelia asked knowing that her mother wouldn't be asking this of her if she or Tony for that matter were all ready on the bridge.

"Going to check on Tony." Natasha said simply and when Amelia agreed to do what her mother had asked Natasha hung up the phone and said to herself, "Making sure he isn't doing anything stupid."

* * *

**A/N: In my mind Tony tends to always do something stupid. :D But then again I'm not that much of an ironman fan. Civil War I sided with Cap. But anyway, please review.  
**


	8. Could it be?

**A/N: Okay so this chapter was a little hard for me to write. I am trying the best I can to bring justice to the characters that Marvel has created and brought to life. this is my first story to write with some of these characters so please let me know what you think. Constructive criticism is welcome but flames are not. :) thanks. All right with out any further delays, chapter 8 The disappearing act.**

* * *

Natasha walked into Tony's office and by passed anyone and everyone that tried to stop to talk to her. She was listening to everything that was going on, on the bridge through her com-link. Amelia had thought it a good idea for Natasha to listen in while she tried to talk to Tony. When Natasha walked into the room, Tony was dressed in his Ironman armor and watching the situation. On the screen was the Mighty Avengers, which had changed over time. Carol Danvers was still the leader of the team but WonderMan was long since gone as was Ares and a few others. They were not easily replaced but there had been new members found who were formidable warriors and now they were being put to the test.

"Anthony," Natasha began but Tony didn't respond to her and at first she thought it was because he was ignoring her but she soon realized he was on the com-link with in his armor.

"Carol, do you think it is him?"

"I can't tell you for sure Tony." Carol's voice rang in his ear, "He sure looks like the real thing."

"Sam, what do you think?"

"I think we need to stop talking and get this guy into custody and then figure out if this is the real Steve Rodgers or not!" The Falcon's voice came through the same com-link patch he had been talking to Carol. Sam wasn't in the Mighty Avengers but he was registered and was a fighter like no other.

"Agreed." Tony said and when he realized that someone was in the room with him, pulled down his helmet, turned around and saw Natasha standing there.

"Since when do you sit on the sidelines, Anthony?" Natasha asked with crossed arms. She knew how much he wanted to get out there and fight along side his friends, so why wasn't he doing it? However Tony didn't have an answer for her and she knew he couldn't. "I say you go out there now and bring that man in. End the battle that is going on."

"What if it is him?" Tony asked. Was that what he was afraid of? His friend coming back from the dead?

"Anthony, you won't get the chance to find out if it is him unless you are able to bring him into custody. Now, I suggest you hurry up and get down there if you still want a chance at getting some action." Natasha said as Tony placed his helmet back on his head and as he was about to leave Natasha spoke again, "Do you want me to tell Ray about this?"

With out missing a beat of time Tony said, "What she doesn't know won't hurt her."

Natasha stood there for a moment and couldn't believe what she had heard from Tony as he had left. How could he keep something this huge from the woman who was basically his daughter? She didn't understand it but she didn't have time to even think about that now. From the look of things she had to get back to the bridge and find a way to end this without anyone getting hurt.

* * *

Ten minutes seemed like a lot of time to Ray when she wanted to get to the bottom of whatever was going on. She had hoped to watch the broadcast while she waited for Bucky but the broadcast ended up losing signal. The News Station went back to the reporters in the building and apologized for the inconvenience and that they would have it back momentarily. So all Ray could do was turn the TV off and wait for Bucky's arrival. She had readied herself in the uniform that Tony and Bucky had given her but she left the shield behind. She felt that at this point it would only get in the way and so she decided to leave it where it lay at the end of her bed.

Finally, Bucky showed up dressed in his Captain America uniform and the two drove on his motorcycle to Central Park. The drive was not long normally but that night it seemed that it took forever. This whole thing had made Ray anxious but she couldn't help it. As soon as they got there, they saw that they had missed the action. The imposter Captain America was gone and no where in site but there were still a few heroes here and there. Ray knew they would be the ones to talk to as did Bucky. The news reporters were packing up, broken cameras and leaving as they pulled up. The hero that Bucky saw first was Carol Danvers aka Ms. Marvel. He knew that if anyone had any information about what had happened it would be her and so he began to walk toward her to see what she knew. Ray was about to accompany him when her cell phone rang. At two in the morning, why was her cell phone going off? Then again at two in the morning why was she in Central Park with Bucky?

"Hello."

_"Where are you?"_ Came Tony's voice. His voice was strange to her. He had worry and fear in his voice and it sounded like his voice was shaking when he spoke. Why was he calling her at two in the morning wanting to know where she was? But there was something else in his voice that worried Ray. Something that told her he wasn't worried about her safety.

"At the tower looking through the files you gave me." She lied. She didn't like lying to him but was he hiding something? If so, what? He never called and simply asked where she was without saying hi first. What was going on?

_"Good. Stay there." _

"What?" Ray asked stopping in my tracks, "Why? Tony what's going on?" Ray asked simply because she felt she had the right to know what was happening but he didn't tell her. He didn't even answer her for a few moments and just when she thought he had hung up he said, _"I'll check on you later." _

Ray hung up the phone and slide it back into her pocket and simply stood there for a moment thinking. Tony had said he'd check on her later. Was something going down at S.H.E.I.L.D? Or somewhere else that Tony didn't want her to be? She didn't know but she would soon find out. Just then Bucky walked back over to her Ms. Marvel and others flew off and the last news crew drove away from the scene.

"Did she know anything?"

"Carol said she wasn't sure if it was him or not but he was strong and was winning when him and half the heroes disappeared."

"Disappeared? As in vanished?"

"More like teleportation." Bucky said, "News crew said they just saw a flash of light and then the imposter was gone along with Ironman, Falcon and a few others."

"That must have been why their camera's stopped working. There's only one place that has the technology to get someone off the ground that fast and in such a way that it not only is untraced able but it fries all electronic devices within the immediate area." Ray said but stopped as she ran Bucky's sentence through her mind once more. "Wait, did you say Ironman?"

"Yep."

"Tony just called me." Ray said, "If he knew this was going on before hand why didn't he tell me?"

"I don't know kiddo. But if Carol is involved and so are the other Mighty Avengers then it has to be SHEILD. You think they have him?"

"Only one way to find out." Ray said as she pulled out her phone and dialed the number that had just called her. It rang and rang and rang but no one answered it. Why wasn't he answering? He always answered his cell when she called. Why was he choosing now not to answer his cell phone?

"He didn't answer?" Bucky asked knowing Ray had called Tony. Who else was she going to call at two thirty in the morning that was in charge of S.H.E.I.L.D?

"Nope. Something is defiantly wrong. He just called me and now he isn't answering."

"So what we gonna do kiddo? Your call." Bucky asked giving Ray the control of the situation. He knew that she would have taken it sooner or later had she really wanted it and seeing how this situation was directly related to her, she would have done so sooner rather than later.

"We're going to the source." She said tugging on her bracelet that she had gotten from Natasha and grabbed on to Bucky and a moment later they were gone.

* * *

A/N: Please Review.


	9. The situation

**A/N:Hope you enjoy**.

* * *

When Natasha had returned to the bridge she found that Amelia had taken over instead of simply supervising like she had asked her to. The scene on the bridge was actually under control and it seemed that Amelia knew exactly what she was doing but when Natasha looked to the screen she saw central park but the supposed Steve Rodgers and the other heroes were no where in sight.

"Amelia report." Natasha said as she walked over to her daughter but never took her eyes off of the screen.

"We successfully managed to use the teleport system to relocate the suggested Steve Rodgers." Amelia said.

"You mean the one that was installed last week and really hasn't ever been used?"

"That would be the one, yes ma'am." Amelia said, "We were forced to use it because the man was getting away and our orders were to get him into custody."

"All right." Natasha began, "Where did you teleport him to?"

"Lower deck. More specifically the holding cells."

Natasha nodded her head and just as she was about to leave agent Michaels spoke up, "Ma'am, incoming communication from Ms. Marvel."

"Patch it through." Natasha and Amelia said in unison but when Amelia received a look from her mother, who at this time was acting as her commanding officer, she knew it was time to back down.

"I want to speak with Tony." Ms. Marvel's voice rang out across the bridge, "He's not answering his com-link."

Natasha sighed as she cursed Tony under her breath for turning the damn thing off yet again as she turned her attention to the leader of the Mighty Avengers. "He's not available at the moment Carol, what can I do for you?" Natasha turned to Amelia and whispered, "Where is Tony?"

"We teleported him and Falcon with the supposed Captain America." Amelia whispered back, "He's on board but must have turned off his com-link….again."

"Natasha, we have a situation."

"Obviously," She replied to Carol believing that the situation that she had been referring to was the one that SHEILD had just gotten into custody. "We've got him on board Ms. Marvel and….."

"No, I'm not referring to the man dressed as Steve Rodgers, Natasha. Ray Rodgers and James just pulled up at the fight scene." Carol said as the video that she was feeding SHEILD revealed the car that belonged to James and sure enough Ray and James stepped out of the car moments later. "What would you have me do?"

"Tell them very little Carol." Natasha said with crossed arms, "I will locate and notify Tony of this."

"I will do my best. Ms. Marvel out." Carol said terminating the video as well as the audio, which left Natasha to figure out how she was going to tell Tony what he had caused by not telling Ray about this in the first place.

"You know she'll figure it out regardless of what Ms. Marvel tells them right?" Amelia said looking at her mother, who simply nodded her head.

"Yea I know Amelia and so should Tony." She said leaving the bridge in search of the man who would have to answer to this.

* * *

They reappeared in a hallway in S.H.E.I.L.D and had a rough landing to say the least. As Ray rubbed her head she looked at Bucky who looked at her and said, "Where to now?"

Honestly, She had no idea where to start looking and She wasn't really sure what She was looking for. Was She looking for Tony to find out why he wasn't answering his cell or was she looking for the Captain America imposter that she and Bucky saw in Central Park? She kept telling herself that she was looking for Tony to get some answers but she was beginning to think that that was not true.

Just before she could say anything, she heard footsteps coming their direction and knew they had to get out of the hallway fast. Looking around, she saw a door that had no labeling on it and not wanting to get caught just yet she opened the door and pulled the two of them into the room. She thought it was just a storage closet that no one ever used but when the lights came on and realized she was wrong.

There in the room was a control panel that had a dozen different monitors which held a dozen different pictures. Quickly she began to form a plan that would hopefully get her what she wanted.

"Bucky, Keep watch." She said moving to the control panel and began searching all camera channels. The monitors continued to change pictures and would do so until she found what I was looking for. The pictures continued to move till she saw Tony come on to the main screen. Stopping the search, Ray simply watched Tony as he was coming out of a room that she'd had never seen before. Heck, she'd had never seen the hallway that he was now standing in before. Zooming in on Tony, she saw that his face was full of sorrow and contusion but why? What could possibly be going on to make Tony this upset? Tony closed the door behind him and left the sight of the camera. Ray paused the camera footage and looked at the door, where there was a label that read B-357. What was in that room? Where would that hallway possibly be if I had never seen it before and I have one of the highest clearances? The only other people that had higher clearance than Ray were, Amelia, Black Widow and Tony? What on earth was going on?

"Bucky." Ray called as he left his position at the door for a moment to come to Ray's side, "Any idea where this hallway is?"

Bucky looked over the hallway for a moment and quickly realized where it was. He had infiltrated S.H.E.I.L.D. once before, years ago, and he knew every end of this building like the back of his hand.

"Section B."

"Section B?"

"B standing for Brig." Bucky said and Ray knew what he meant. He meant the prison section of S.H.E.I.L.D, which Ray had never been in before because there was no reason for her to go down there. That was until now.

* * *

**A/N: Okay so the section B thing is probably stupid but i couldn't come up with anything else. Please Review**

* * *


	10. She doesn't need to know

**_A/N: Thanks for the reviews as always. Please enjoy_**

* * *

"Do you think it could be him Sam?" Tony asked as he looked at the screen that held the footage from the cell that they had placed the suggested Captain America in. Falcon had helped Tony the best he could getting him in the cell and then had wanted to see what Tony had thought about the whole situation.

"It sure as hell looks like him." Sam said.

"Sounds like him too."

"Tony, voices can be faked." Sam said as he sat down in a chair directly across from Tony's desk. "So when are you telling her?"

"Tell her what?" Tony asked as if he had no idea what Falcon was actually talking about. Sam had used two unknowns in his sentence, mainly to see which one Tony would choose to ignore and he sure didn't disappoint.

"How about that her father is down in the holding cells." Sam said as he leaned back in the chair but before Tony even had a chance to respond, the office door flew open and slammed closed. Sam turned around and saw an angry Natasha standing there with her arms crossed. He stood to his feet and would have exited the room if the Former KGB agent hadn't given him a glare that shot daggers. So he simply retook his seat and waited to see what had angered Natasha.

"Anthony," she began, "You have a problem."

Sam notied how the angry Russian had said the problem was Tony's and not theirs. So this could only have meant one thing, that Tony had done something and it had backfired.

"Danvers called." She continued but was still talking to Tony's back, "James showed up at Central Park." Tony shifted his weight from one foot to the other and some of his attention to what Natasha was talking about. He had a feeling that he all ready knew where she was going with this but he waited for her to continue before he made his assumptions. "Ray was with him Anthony."

Sam stood once more and began to move to the door and was almost home free when Natasha stopped him yet again.

"Sam tell Anthony that he needs to speak to his daughter."

"Natasha, this really sounds more like a family affair." Sam said trying to get himself out of the middle of this. He may have known Ray from when she wa little but he was jsut a "friend of the family" and felt that this matter had nothing to do with him but apparently Natasha didn't feel that way.

"Natasha, need I remind you that she is not my daughter." Tony said turning around and facing Natasha and Sam for the first time.

"No? Then I want to talk to the man who raised Ray Rodgers into the woman that is about to figure out that that man is the one who hasn't told her a thing about this supposed return of her father."

"She won't figure it out, Natasha." Tony said and before anything else could be said an agent, who had only worked at SHEILD for a few weeks, stormed into the office.

"Director Stark!" The agent said and when Tony looked at the man he continued, "there are two unidentified signitures in the control room.

"She's not going to figure it out huh?" Natasha asked and Sam could have sworn that he heard the Black Widow laugh under her breath, "You underestimate her, Anthony." She turned to the agent and asked, "Any systems being effected? Has Anyone been hurt?"

"No ma'am. Not as of yet."

"Thankyou for the report, Agent. I will personally tend to this matter. Dismissed." Tony replied to the agent as he tirned his com-link on and said, "Amelia go to the control room and tell Ray to get her nose out of stuff that she does not understand!"

"Tony?" Amelia said not sure what was being asked of her but tony did not allow for her to finish her sentence as he cut her off.

"Just get it done!" He then stormed passed both Falcon and Black Widow and slammed the office door behind him, leaving the two former team mates and friends to the silence that quickly filled the room.

"You all right?" Sam asked finally breaking the silence.

"Da." She replied, "But Ray won't be."

"You want me to check on her."

"I wouldn't ask if I didn't think she'd listen." Natasha said knowing that there were two people in this world that Ray would talk to if she didn't think she would talk to Tony. One was Bucky, who was like a brother to Ray and the other was Sam. He was a friend that Ray could count on and knowing this, Natasha took advantage of it.

"I can try Natasha but you know I will but she is as stubborn as Steve and Tony put together. Not to mention how feisty her mother was."

"I know Sam but someone has to try to get through to her." Natasha looked at the screen and saw the man was now laying down on the bed. She wanted to believe that the man in the cell was her friend that she had fought alongside so many years ago but that man had died hadn't he?

"Natasha, I don't think its him. His fighting is good but that man is too strong and something seems off about him."

Natasha nodded her head and said, "Maybe but it doesn't make it any easier."

"I know. I'll go to Ray's loft and wait for her there. I'll talk to her and get her to talk to Tony."

"She knows what she needs to do Sam but like you said, she is stubbon. All you can do is try."

"I will."

"Thank you Sam. Maybe she will listen to you."

"Lets hopes so." Sam said as he politly said his goodbyes to Natasha and was finally allowed to the leave Tony Stark's SHEILD office.

* * *

_**A/N: Please review**_


	11. Few more seconds

A/N: Please enjoy, as always.

* * *

Ray tried to hack into the S.H.I.E.L.D mainframe so that she could see what was in the room B-357 but nothing she knew was working. She had tried just about everything when she heard Bucky call out, "We got company."

"We're not here to fight them." Ray said quickly telling Bucky what he all ready knew but she felt she needed to say it anyway. Before any kind of exit plan could be formed, Ray's cell phone went off. Bucky quickly looked to Ray and whispered, "Who is that?"

"Amelia." Ray said still typing on the keyboard as fast as she could as she answered her phone and held it to her hear with her left shoulder.

"Hey Amelia, what's up?"

_Don't play with me Ray. You know what's up and you've got about half a second to get out of the Control Panel room before I send agents down there to pull you out._

Suddenly Ray realized what she had been doing wrong and why she wasn't getting into the camera that was in the room. She had to go through a certain channel, and as she typed in the location of the channel a password required page showed up on all the screens. Ray sighed heavy as she realized she would either have to ask Amelia for more time or have Bucky buy them more time. She wanted to the former rather than the latter but she didn't know what kind of mood her sister was in.

"Give me a few seconds."

_You don't have a few seconds! They found two unidentified people on board S.H.E.I.L.D. Ray, they know your here and I can only guess that Bucky is the other person with you._

"All I need is a few seconds." Ray said typing in as many passwords as she could think of but they were all turning up wrong. She had tried everything from Natasha to Steve Rodgers to Ultron and none of them worked. Bucky saw that she was having a hard time with the password and simply walked over to the panel and typed a single word in and had immediate access.

"How did….." Ray asked and Bucky simply shook his head and said, "Something's about Tony, he won't tell you. Get what you want and let's get out of here before we regret coming here."

Ray nodded her head as she hacked into the camera and at that moment all the screens came up with what was in the room. There sitting on a bed that was made for criminals, was none other than the imposter that she and Bucky had seen in Central Park.

**_Ray! Sanction!!_** Came Amelia's voice form the cell phone that had been dropped to the floor a few moments before. **_Don't make me do this!_**

"Think it's time to bale." Bucky said and all Ray could do was nod her head. She grabbed her cell phone, closed it and teleported the two of them out of the base two seconds before Amelia came into the small room. She saw what Ray had seen and knew that no good could come from this. Amelia didn't know what Tony had not wanted Ray to see before hand but now that she knew, Amelia knew her sister would not stop till she got to the bottom this.

* * *

**_A/N: Please review. Sorry if this is too short but the next chapter has to be by itself I think. I don't feel right about putting it together with another chapter. Anyway hope you enjoyed it and please tell me what you think._**


	12. Up on the roof top

**_A/N: Okay if the last chapter was too short I make it up to you with this one being longer. Hope you enjoy._**

* * *

When Ray and Bucky reappeared, they found themselves in Ray's loft appartement with a better landing than before but still somewhat rough. Ray felt that she had to leave the room and so she headed to the roof top and ignored Bucky's attempts to call her back. She hoped that she could be alone on her roof and not be bothered by anyone but once again she was wrong.

There on the roof was a black man in a red and white outfit standing on the roof simply looking to the sky. He wore red wing type gliders underneath his arms and bore a red band around his head with a silver diamond shape stone dead center of his face. His presence here only confirmed that Tony knew Ray had been at S.H.E.I.L.D. Heck, Amelia coming after her was a sign that Tony had seen her.

"Part of me thinks that you are going to get into more trouble than your old man ever did." The man finally said still not looking at me.

"Hello to you too Falcon." Ray said taking a deep breath as she sat on the roof top with her feet hanging off the tower. Silence passed between them as Ray took off her cape and laid it beside her folded neatly. Ray really wanted Falcon to say something but she knew he wouldn't. Not for a while at least and he could stand silences such as this one a lot better than anyone, including Ray, and he knew it.

"He sent you didn't he?" Ray said finally breaking the silence looking at the sky to see what Falcon was looking at and then she spotted it. It was A speck in the sky that was moving closer and closer until finally she recognized it as Falcon's pet bird, Red Wing. Falcon's gift was that he could communicate telepathically with Red Wing and be able to see what the bird saw, which was always useful for recon missions. Red Wing doesn't come in for a landing but instead makes a circle around Falcon for a moment before flying off once more.

"Actually, Natasha is worried about you. She wanted to make sure you were all right." Falcon said as he sat down beside Ray. Silence passed once more between us til she broke it yet again. Ray knew that her mother figure was easily worried about her or Amelia but there was really nothing Ray could do about it. That was life in general but definatly applied for the life of the child of an avenger.

"I saw him."

"Who?" Falcon asked confusion in his voice.

"Sam, don't play me a fool!" Ray said simply shaking her head at him, "The impostor."

"Ray…." Falcon began but she cut him off for fear of what he would say.

"Don't Sam! That man up there is not my father!" Ray said standing to her feet as fear, anger and tears building up in her eyes. She didn't want to hear Sam say what she was afraid he was going to say because she knew it couldn't possibly be true.

"Ray, go talk with Tony." Sam said another set of words Ray didn't want to hear.

Talk with Tony? Was Sam out of his mind? Tony was the last person Ray wanted to see yet alone talk to at that point. She felt that she'd been betrayed by Tony taking in the impostor and not telling her. Why would he do such a thing?

"Not till he talks to me first." Ray said bluntly standing to her feet and crossing her arms a sign of how stubborn she really was.

"Ray, this ain't a damn pissing contest!" Sam said getting to his feet. he didn't like to yell at Ray but she wasn't easy to convince at this point.

"He's the one who put up the imposter and didn't even tell me. You know how I found out? By watching the midnight news! Tony should have told me!"

"Ray, I'm not disagreeing with you but you want answers that I don't have. There's only one man you'll get them from and you know it!"

"I don't want to."

"Don't lie to yourself Ray." Falcon said as his bird came and perched itself on his shoulder. "You want nothing more than to find out who the man in the Captain America suit is. You won't rest until you find out what is going on and how it all happened."

"How can you be so sure? What if you're wrong?"

"I'm not wrong." He said simply as his voice turned to a gentler tone than before. "I knew your father, Ray. Steve Rodgers was a man who never gave up on anything no matter what. You're his daughter. He didn't give up on Bucky and you won't give up on this."

Ray knew he was right. Falcon was typically always right.

"I hate it when you're right. You know that?"

A smile came to Sam's face as he nodded his head.

"I know. So did your father." He said as he flew off with Red Wing , leaving Ray to think about what she was doing and what she should do. Grabbing her cape, she walked back down stairs and saw that Bucky was still there.

"I thought you left." She said walking into the living room where Bucky sat flipping through the channels.

"I'm not leaving here until I make sure that your all right."

"Buck, I'm fine." Ray said but Bucky wasn't about to buy it. He knew her better than that. He knew when Steve was angered and he knew how he reacted and Ray would probably do the same thing. Again Ray found herself in a place where there was complete silence and no comforting words or any words at all. Ray looked at the time and saw that it was nearing day break. A few more minutes passed and Ray realized that Bucky wasn't going anywhere.

"I need to get some sleep if I'm going to go to talk with a friend or two tomorrow.." Ray said trying to get Bucky out of Stark Tower but still he did not move.

"Your still gonna do the team?" Bucky asked.

"In a way but not entirely." Ray said but Bucky had a feeling that she wasn't telling him everything which was why he chose his words carefully.

"I will take you to the places you need to go if you want me to."

"I think I can do this on my own Buck. Thanks though. However, I could use you for a meeting. You know keep everything orderly."

"When?" Bucky asked thinking it was strange that Ray had just told him that she didn't want his help forming the team but she wanted him at the meeting.

"Tonight a seven at your place. Sound okay?" Ray said as Bucky got up off the couch and began walking to the door nodding his head and just before he left he looked at Ray and said, "Yea sure. Kid, you know you can call me if you need anything right?"

"Yeah I know Buck." She replied nodding her head, "So I'll see ya later."

"Yeah. Sure thing, kiddo." He said as he opened the door and walked out of the room, leaving Ray to get at least a few hours of desired rest.

* * *

**_A/N: Please review. this was actually a fun chapter to write. I had wanted Ray to have one on one conversation with someone besides Tony and Bucky. I like Falcon so I decided to use him. Let me know what you think._**


	13. Talking with the Prince

Later on around noon, Ray decided it was time to pay a visit to a close friend. He would be the easiest to ask but not necessarily the easiest to find but as she walked through the doors of the Wakanda Embassy, she knew she'd soon find out. She stepped foot inside the Embassy and saw a woman sitting at a desk flipping through file after file of some report. Her hair was as dark as a raven's wing and her skin was as golden as the sun. The woman finally caught Ray's gaze a few moments after Ray walked in and said, "May I help you?"

"I'm looking for the Prince. Is he here?"

The woman suddenly got a puzzled look on her face and maybe it was because of Ray's question but she really didn't seem to know the answer. Just then, the Queen of Wakanda walked into the foyer. It had been said that the Queen of Wakanda was the most beautiful woman in all of Africa and no other woman could hold a candle to her and Ray could defiantly see how that story started. The Queen's snow white hair was so long that it touched the floor and it was braided in such a way that one could get lost trying to follow the braid. She wore a light blue skirt with a matching modest top that made her eyes pop.

" Your Highness." The woman behind the desk said bowing to the Queen and then as she rose to sit back in her chair, she said, "This woman is seeking the Prince."

The Wind Rider Queen turned to Ray and smiled as she said, "Hello, Ms. Rodgers. I believe he is in the gym at the moment. I can take you to him if you would like."

Ray nodded her head as she bowed politely and said, "I would appreciate that very much, Your Highness."

"Please, Ms. Rodgers, call me Storm. You are a friend of T'Cama after all." Storm said as she lead Ray down the hall to an elevator where she pressed a button with the letters "DR" on it. For a moment Ray wondered what the letter stood for but after a moment of thinking, she realized that Storm had recreated the legendary Danger Room that once belonged to the X-men. It seemed to suit her since after all she had been an X-man before she had married the Black Panther. The ride down was a quiet one and Ray didn't know how to start a conversation with the Wind Rider but thankfully the ride was not long. They exited the elevator and Storm went to the door where she knew her son was, and motioned for Ray to enter with her.

When the two women entered the room, Ray found that the man she was looking for was, at the moment, in a battle with a younger man that looked like him and she could only assume that this man was T'Cama's brother. At first Ray believed that Storm was going to call the fight between the two boys but when the moments passed and the fight still went on, it was clear that she was going to wait till it was over. T'Cama and his brother wrestled for a few moments on the floor till he had managed to pin his brother in a position that he could not move from. It was then that Storm chose to call the battle.

"Well done my sons."

"Thank you, mother." T'Cama said as he got off her brother and helped him to his feet at the sound of his mother's voice.

"I want a rematch T'Cama!" The younger boy cried out as he rubbed the back of his head.

"You can have your rematch later, Henry but right now T'Cama has company." Storm said as she and Henry proceeded to leave the gym so that T'Cama and Ray could talk privately about whatever it was that Ray had come to call on T'Cama for.

"Nice fight." Ray said as she and T'Cama exited the gym as well and headed outside where they could talk and get fresh air.

"Thank you." T'Cama said opening the outside door for Ray as they walked out into the garden. "My brother and I spar regularly."

"Do you always win?"

"Usually, yes. Unless I am being nice and let him win but I needed a work out." T'Cama said as he wiped off the sweat off his face with the towel that was wrapped around his neck. They walked in silence for a moment until T'Cama said, "I saw on the news this morning that some man dressed as Captain America had appeared in Central Park. Is it true that it is Steve Rodgers?"

"No." Ray said bluntly. She hadn't come here to talk about the imposter that was now resting in S.H.E.I.L.D's custory but she figured T'Cama would be the one to bring it up out of all the people she was going to visit today. "No it is not true. The man that you saw is nothing more than an imposter who meant to ruin a good name."

T'Cama nodded as he realized that by the tone change in Ray's voice that the topic had to be changed because this conversation was over. He figured she didn't want to talk about it but he wasn't to make sure she was all right.

"What can I do for you, Ray?" T'Cama said changing the subject quickly.

"I need help with something, T'Cama." She said.

"I will help however I can." T'Cama replied, "You know that."

"If I didn't I wouldn't have come."

Is everything all right Ray?" T'Cama said walking with his hands behind his back trying to appear formal even though he was still in his gym clothes.

She simply nodded her head.

"What exactly do you need help with?" He asked as they stopped next to some flowers that were native to Wakanda. They were the most beautiful flowers Ray had ever seen. They were red mixed with white and a light blue and seemed to be a cross between a tulip and a carnation. She nearly lost my train of thought looking at them but she managed to pull herself out of the beauty of the flower and get back to the business at hand.

"I can't tell you exactly. Not here at least."

Before he or Ray could say anything further, they were interrupted.

"T'Cama!" Came the voice that belonged to a dark headed little girl dressed in the same outfit as Storm. At the sound of the girl's voice, Ray saw T'Cama take a deep breath as if he was preparing to deal with the little girl. Ray could only smile as she realized this girl was his little sister.

"Yes Lillian?" T'Cama asked turning around and getting down on the five year olds level. Lillian was about to tell T'Cama whatever it was that she was suppose to tell him when her eyes fell on Ray. She looked at Ray with the eyes that her father had given her and with a curious look turned back to her big brother and whispered, "Who's that?"

T'Cama turned around to look at Ray, smiled for a moment and then turned back to Lillian and in the same soft whisper replied, "My friend Ray."

"Oh." Lillian said and then turning to Ray once more and with a big wave of her hand, said "Hi Ray."

"Hello Lillian." She said with a smile on her face. Ray continued to watch the curious five year old girl and saw her face go from curious to mischievous in nothing flat. She pulled on T'Cama's arm when his attention left her for a moment and then said, "She's pretty. Is she your girlfriend?"

T'Cama took a moment to answer, which Ray thought strange that he did not answer right away. It was a simply yes or no question right? But maybe it was a question that he did not want to answer, or at least one he did not want to tell Lillian. Nonetheless, he gave his sister an answer.

"No, she is not." T'Cama said hoping that his sister would be satisfied with that answer and get to the message that she had brought to him in the first place but that hope was shattered when she spoke once more still looking at Ray.

"Is she going to be your Queen?" Lillian finally asked the real question that she had wanted answered. Ray had been at the Embassy several times before and she can only assume that is where Lillian got the idea that her big brother was dating the daughter of Captain America but she don't know for sure.

"Lillian!" T'Cama said bringing Ray out of her thoughts. She knew that was not a question he wanted to answer for anyone who asked it. Ray had known T'Cama long enough to know that he felt strongly about his father's throne but not in the way his parents and his people wanted him to. He didn't think that he was going to be capable of living up to his father's legacy and King of Wakanda, something the two young heroes shared.

"Sorry T'Cama." Lillian said lowering her head to the ground, no longer looking at T'Cama or myself.

"T'Cama," Ray gently say, "She didn't mean any harm." She didn't want to get into any type of brother and sister fight here but she felt that T'Cama would listen.

He simply nodded his head as he said, "It's all right Lillian. Now, what did you need me for?"

Watching Lillian, Ray saw her face went from apologetic to energetic just as she was before this whole thing started. She quickly remembered what she needed her brother for and said, "Mommy wants you." Her smile went from ear to ear, no doubt because she was proud of herself for delivering the message to her brother without forgetting it.

T'Cama patted his sister on the head and said, "All right, I will be along in a moment."

"Okay." She said still bearing her huge five year old smile. She was about to run back inside but then a half a second later she said, "Bye Ray."

"Bye Lillian." Ray said smiling just as big as Lillian. With that little girl around there was no way, someone couldn't smile as much as she did. Again she ran off but then stopped in her tracks as if she forgot something yet again. She came back to T'Cama, who now stood to his feet, and whispered rather loudly, "I still think she's your girlfriend."

Then as she ran off, Ray couldn't help but laugh at the child's spirit. T'Cama looked at me as if to tell me to hush but she simply looked at him and said, "What? She's cute."

"And a pain." T'Cama said, "May the panther god help us when that one is angered." He said this more to himself than to Ray but she knew what he meant. His mother's temper was something and it would seem that her daughter had inherited it as well as her father's.

"So can you help me?"

"Yes I will, you don't need to ask."

"Thank you. Meet me at this address at seven tonight." Sanction said handing T'Cama a piece of paper.

"Very well. Good Day Sanction." T'Cama said addressing me formally as some of his people passed us by.

"Good Day T'Cama." Ray said as she left the embassy and headed for her next destination with two women to meet.

* * *

**_A/N: Please review. Again this is another chapter that I felt could not be divided into two chapters. I love this chapter. My sister actually inspiered me to create Lillian. She was acting that way one day and I decided to place that into my story. So this chapter is completly dedicated to her. Please let me know what you think. _**


	14. Anger and tears

**A/N: Originally this was not going to be a chapter I did but I changed my mind and decided that it needed to be in this story. Please enjoy**

* * *

After talking with T'Cama, Ray had two choices: go back to her loft apartment or go to Amelia's place and ask for her help. Asking Amelia for help would have been so much easier had Tony not called on her to yell at Ray to get out of the control room. She hadn't seen her sister since then but she knew the longer she put it off the harder it would be to face her sister. Ray simply drove, not sure what to do or where to go but inevitably ended up at Amelia's apartment. Five minutes after pulling up, Ray stood outside Amelia's door waiting for the tan wooden door to open. A moment later Ray was no longer looking at the tan door with the numbers 159 but Amelia's frustrated face.

"Tony mad at me?" Ray asked leaning her head against the door frame as she broke the silence. Ray ahd thought that Amelia could have waited to answer and taken her time with what she was going to say but her older sister proved her wrong.

"Mad at you? Why would he be mad?" Amelia said as she walked away from the door, leaving the door open so that Ray could come inside if she chose so. Ray saw Amelia turn the corner of the living room and go into the kitchen.

"Amelia, you don't have to be mean about it." Ray said as she walked into her sister's apartment and closed the door behind her. Tony was upset with her for what she did but he had always told her to do what she felt was right and going into SHEILD, she felt was right. She couldn't wait and sit around for Tony to tell her about the imposter and what was going on because that wasn't going to happen and Ray knew that now.

"I'm sorry Ray but what were you thinking? Breaking into SHEILD?" Amelia asked from the kitchen as she was talking with her hands. Walking into the kitchen, Ray noticed that her sister was working on something for dinner for herself but while she was talking she was waving the knife in the air and so Ray made it a point to say out of her way.

"No one got hurt." Ray said plainly, leaning up against the wall and crossing her arms.

"Not this time." Amelia said pointing the sharp knife at her sister, "But you should have called Tony and talked with him about this."

"You don't think I tried that?" Ray asked getting defensive with her older sister, "A, I called him on his phone right after he had called me. He didn't pick up and don't you think that if he was going to tell me about the imposter he would have told me when he had me on the phone?"

"Maybe he had a good reason for not telling you on the phone Ray." Amelia said still trying to defend Tony. the man had helped her mother to raise her and he had raised Ray himself, the least Amelia felt she could do was to give him the benefit of the doubt.

"Perhaps but honestly there isn't a damn good reason why he didn't tell me about a man posing as my father." Ray said as she got into her sister's face and when her sister continued to chop the vegatable up, Ray grabbed the knife out of her hand and broke it. A second later Ray looked at her left hand and saw that it was now bleeding, due to the blade. In her anger she had placed the blade on her hand and when she had broken it, it sliced her palm. Amelia took a deep breath and knew she couldn't get angry with her sister now that she was hurt. So heading to the bathroom she gathered the first aid kit and when she came back to the kitchen she spoke once more.

"What if he's not posing?"

"What?" Ray asked as she winced when Amelia put some stuff on the cut to clean it out. Amelia gave her a look that told her to stop being a big baby and Ray couldn't help but roll her eyes. True she had superstrength and super human reflexes just like her father but when it came down to cleaning out a wound, it still hurt like hell.

"Think about it Ray." Amelia said continuing her conversation despite the look on her sister's face. "Wouldn't that be what you've always wanted? To actually meet your real father?"

Ray didn't say anything for a long time as she thought about what her sister was saying. When she was younger she used to wish that she had at least meet both her parents. Everyone that she knew had either fought with, against or for her father and growing up with that was hard at times. Amelia was now using that to make a point. Amelia finally finished with wrapping the hand and was she put the remaining bandages back in the kit, she brought Ray out of her thoughts.

"Ray, from the time that you learned that Tony and Natasha weren't your real parents, you've always had a desire to know your parents. Don't try to tell me that you haven't because I know you. I see the look in your eyes every time Steve or Sharron are brought up. If this is the real Captain America, think about how your life could change."

"What if its not?" Ray finally asked after a few moments of silence as she backed up against the wall she had been leaning one before. "What if I let SHIELD do their job and it turns out to be an attack from the Red Skull?"

"The Skull is gone." Amelia said walking closer to her sister and when she got closer, she saw that Ray was getting real emotional about this and that she had small tears in her eyes. Amelia knew that when Ray got worked up about something, wither she was really passionate or angry she had would inevitable work herself up into tears. "Is that what your worried about?"

There was silence for a long while and that was fine with Amelia because she knew Ray would talk when she was ready.

"The Red Skull--he took both my parents. What's to stop him from taking me out?" Ray said as finally tears came down her cheeks like rocks rolling down a hill.

'Well for one, he's dead. Tony brought the body into SHIELD when you were fifteen. I saw the body myself." Amelia said recalling the day when she had seen the body of the Red Skull, unintentionally. She had walked into the medic's office and found the corpse laying on a table partially covered up. She had always thought it was strange that the medical examiner had left the body of a man who had been the worst enemy of a great american hero, laying so openly on the metal table. SHe had never told anyone, until now that she had seen the body laying there because she had never seen a need to and maybe that was why Tony was not telling Ray what she wanted to know now.

"Does death ever stop villains?"

"Does death ever stop heroes?" Amelia asked turning the question around.

"Stopped my father." Ray said as she wipped away her tears and tried to compose herself and pull herself together but no matter how hard she tried, she knew that Amelia would be able to see right through her.

"I don't think it did." Amelia said calmly, "He lives on in you Ray. You may never have met him but your just like him. I mean I never met him either but everyone agrees that you are like him in every way. Now that I've lectured you, you came over here for a reason, what was it that you needed?"

"I'm meeting with Bucky and T'Cama at Bucky's place later tonight. Was hoping you would come." Ray said, glad to change the subject and was hoping she wouldn't have to get onto the topic again.

"Sure, can I ask why?" Amelia asked as she looked for another knife to finish her dinner with and once she found one, she looked to Ray who nodded, giving her permission to continue. Typically Amelia would not have done such a thing but considering the way that Ray had snapped the first knife with her bear hands, she figured she would ask if she could continue.

"I need help with something. I can tell you more about it tonight." Ray knew that she could ask Amelia for help and she would not have to explain what it was. Which was good because she did not feel like explaining it to her at this moment. She would much rather just explain everything one time and then figure out if her sister would help her or not.

"Okay, what time?"

"Seven."

"I maybe alittle late. My shift at SHIELD ends at seven." Amelia said putting the vegtables into a boiling pot as Ray began to leave the kitchen and head to the door.

"No problem. Thanks A. I'll see you tonight."

"See you later Ray."

* * *

**A/N: Please review.**

* * *


	15. Love blooming in the night

That night, Ray stood on the roof top of Bucky's apartment building, thinking of nothing in particular and yet everything in the world when she heard saw T'Cama land next to her. He looked gorgeous with the moon light making his golden brown skin glisten. His dark hair, which had a hint of white, was in perfect position as always and honestly, Ray didn't think it has ever moved.

"Hey." Ray said turning back to the beautiful starlit sky.

"Hey." He said as he wrapped his arms around Ray's waist and smelt her hair.

"T'Cama." She said pulling away from his gentle grasp but before she could say anything he said, "Ray, no one is watching. We are the only ones up here. We're on a roof. Who is going to see us up here?"

Ray smiled as she then allowed T'Cama to wrap his arms around her like a warm blanket. She leaned her head against his bare chest, closed her eyes and sighed.

"You all right?" He asked gently, "You seemed stressed earlier."

"Yea, sorry about that but I am a little stressed I suppose." Ray said not wanting to talk about the fact that Tony not telling her about the imposter in the first place was really getting to her. "You do know, we can't keep this act up forever."

"Act?" He asked, "What act?"

"The one where we pretend that we are not together." Ray said turning around to look him in his beautiful white eyes. He'd inherited a lot from his father, which wasn't a bad thing in the least but his eyes he'd gained from his mother. His eyes were more stunning then anything his father had given him. One glance of his eyes and you would see white and nothing else but when he allowed you to look as close as he allowed Ray to look, you could see that his eyes were not white but a very very light blue and Ray thought this was simply stunning.

"Oh that act." T'Cama said as if he had forgotten but Ray saw his smile and knew he hadn't forgotten.

"Do you know how hard it is to resist telling everyone that you are mine? Or even how hard it was for me to talk to you without showing how upset I am?" Ray said with her arms around his neck.

She looked around them to make sure no one was watching because if they were, it would be a disaster. She felt T'Cama's grip become tighter as he began to speak again.

"Upset? Over what my love?" He knew this whole thing with the want-to-be Captain America was bothering his girl and he did hate that she felt that she couldn't come to him whenever she wanted but what was she really upset about? Was there more to this Captain America situation than what she was letting on?

Ray sighed as she tried to decide if she should tell him now but decided against it. He would find out soon enough. "Its not important at the moment Love. Just I wasn't to be able to come to you, where ever you are, and tell you whatever I need to."

"I know how much you hate this Love but it is for the best."

"I know." Ray said. They knew that if their love for one another became public knowledge, then the press would never leave them alone. They hardly left the two heroes alone as it was but every now and then, on nights like this one, the two of them managed to escape the spot light. It's these times that Ray wanted to keep and not throw them to the press. "I know why we do this, T'Cama but sometimes I just wish I could tell everyone that I've found the man of my dreams."

"I often wish the same. Mother would like you."

"Would?" Ray asked, "She does likes me all ready."

"I meant in terms of being my girlfriend, Ray." T'Cama said with a smile.

Another reason they told no one was because T'Cama's people would assume that Ray would be his queen. Now, Ray loves T'Cama and all but she knows nothing of being a queen. A queen, from what she had seen of Storm, holds her tongue when in public, even when angered. She devotes her life to not only the king but his kingdom. Now Ray knows that she can devote her life to the man she loves but to the Wakanda Kingdom? She can keep my mouth shut but not to be able to speak her mind in public? Or when she was angered? She obviously can't do that, otherwise She wouldn't have been in this situation. T 'Cama knew how Ray felt about all this and so for now they simply enjoy each other's company and the thrill of keeping it a secret.

"Happy Birthday by the way, Love." T'Cama softly whispered into her ear and she couldn't help but smile. He was smiling from ear to ear just as she was.

"Thank you Sweetie but my birthday was yesterday." She gently reminded him. He opened his mouth to say something but then instead of saying anything he simply laughed.

"So it was but I couldn't very well do this at the embassy." T'Cama said as he leaned into kiss her gently. For a moment or two, She was lost in his kiss. There was nothing to worry about. No press. No reputation to uphold. No need to worry that anyone saw them together like this. Just the two of them. The Son of the King and Queen of Wakanda and the Daughter of Captain America coming together to simply, be. Not many people knew what this felt like and honestly, neither did she till he kissed her like that. She didn't want it to end. She wanted to be with him more than anything but they simply couldn't. Not yet anyway.

They parted after a moment and she simply smiled and said, "No, guess you couldn't have. Not will Lillian watching us anyway."

"She was watching the entire time wasn't she?"

"Yes, she was. She was in the window of the Embassy looking out at us. I spotted her before she ever came out. I think your mother may have caught her spying but gave her the chance to see what we were up to."

"That would mean that mother suspected something."

"Would that be a bad thing?" Ray asked. She liked Storm and the rest of T'Cama's family, although she hardly ever saw T'Cama's father. Ray can only assume that he was in Wakanda dealing with business there.

"No I suppose not." T'Cama said finally, "Mother is a very smart woman. I suspect she will put two and two together eventually."

"If she hasn't all ready love." Ray said as she gently kissed the man she loved and no sooner had Ray begun kissing T'Cama did the door that lead to the roof open and a moment later the young couple heard the sound of a man clearing his voice. Ray and T'Cama separated from each other immediantly as if they were doing something that was illegal or unlawful.

"Am I interrupting something?" Came the man's vopice and when Ray looked at the door she saw standing there.

"No." Ray lied, "Nothing at all."

"Ray, Amelia's down stairs waiting for you." Bucky said not taking his eyes off of T'Cama and despite Ray seeing this she took this opportunity to leave the ackward situation and hope the one with Amelia would not be so tense.

When Ray left Bucky closed the door and looked at T'Cama. There was an uncomforatble silence for a while and T'Cama couldn't help but know exactly what was going to come next. He'd never been in this situation before but he knew what Bucky was about to tell him.

"You been seeing her long?" Bucky asked plain and simple, which at first took T'Cama aback but he quickly managed to answer the question.

"About five months." T'Cama said as he had quickly calculated the days they had been together and he could barely believe that it had been five months all ready. He watched as Bucky nodded his head and T'Cama knew he had to have been wondering how Ray had kept their relationship a secret for five months when everyone seemed to know every aspect of her life and his.

"Listen, T'Cama." Bucky said, "I know you're a good kid, T'Cama. I've met your parents and fought with them on more than one occasion and their good people but I promise you, if you hurt her….."

"Sir, I can assure you," T'Cama said begin as polite as he could towards the man who was basically his girl's big brother, "That will never happen. I care for her too much."

"Good and it better stay that way." Bucky said as he was only a few feet from T'Cama now and staring him in the face. "Because if you ever hurt her, I won't care if you can weild lighting, I won't care who your parents are and I won't care if you think you can fly to the ends of the earth because I will find you. I will find you and hunt you down and make you answer for hurting Ray. She is like a sister to me. I am suppose to protect her and I am going to do just that. I expect the same from you."

T'Cama simply nodded his head and finaly musterd up his voice enough to say, "Yes Sir. May I go inside now?

Bucky simply nodded his head but T'Cama knew he would be keeping an eye on him from now and Bucky wouldn't have had it any other way.

* * *

**A/N: Please review. This was a favorite chapter of mine to write. I like writting relationship chapters. **


	16. In or Out?

Ray and Amelia sat on the sofa when the apartment door opened and Bucky and T'Cama walked in. Ray instantly looked at T'Cama for him to somehow tell her that everything was all right and his eyes did just that but his eyes also told her that Bucky was watching him. Ray had all ready told T'Cama that they would not be able to keep their love for each other a secret forever and nor did she want to keep it a secret for any length of time. However, acting they way they were on the roof of Bucky's apartment building may not have been the best idea either one of them had had.

"So what is it that you needed help with?" T'Cama asked trying to break the awkward silence and getting Ray out of her thoughts.

Taking a deep breath, Ray stood to her feet and looked at her friend, boyfriend and sister and tried to bare the silence. Bucky had told her that he didn't want to be on the team and that was fine but she needed a safe place for now. A place where Tony wouldn't be able to listen in on the conversation. For the mission that they were going to be going on was no way going to be approved by the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"All right." She said, "I told you that I needed help with something. Search and Rescue."

"Ray, who are we going after?" Bucky asked almost afraid of the answer

Sanction took a breath as she prepared herself to tell Bucky the three of them that they were about to break into S.H.E.I.L.D and bust out the imposter Captain America so that she could get some straight answers for once. Falcon had told her to talk to Tony but that wasn't going to happen without a huge blow up fight. She knew that by going into S.H.E.I.L.D, a second time, she could be placing herself and her very small team as a traitor to the country but she didn't care. After all she was a traitor's daughter.

"Last night, when I was putting the rosters together for my team, I saw something on the news that I never thought could happen." Sanction said and she knew she had everyone's attention. Starting off the way she did and not telling everyone exactly what was going on, only made them listen closer so they wouldn't miss anything. Ray tried not to look at Bucky or Amelia because she knew that they both would understand what the mission was before she ever actually say it. Honestly, Bucky probably all ready knew what Sanction was going to say. She turned to the DVD player and put in a small CD that she had brought with her and when it began to play silence filled the room for a moment until T'Cama broke it.

"Is that….?" T'cama asked sitting on the edge of his seat but not allowing him sentence to be finished. The scene before him was one of Captain America fighting the heroes that everyone in the room knew. He didn't know what to think yet alone if he should believe that the legendary Captain America had come back from the dead after so many years. True, he had never met the man but he knew of him and his legacy. It was because that he knew of the legacy of Captain America, he understood why Sanction fought so hard to protect it.

"No its not." Ray said in a strictly professional tone. The same tone that she had been using throughout the whole meeting. T'Cama really didn't like this side of her because he felt as if she was trying to block out everyone from seeing how she really felt about something and this time it was not about how she felt about him. This had everything to do with her late father and it always would be until people stopped trying to say that the real Captain had come back.

"How can you tell?" T'Cama asked, "He looks legit."

"Maybe to you, " Bucky said speaking up for the first time since the meeting had started, "But not to Ray and espesually not to me." Bucky moved to the left side of the TV and played the recording back as he spoke. He could only assume that Ray had stolen a copy of the battle from SHIELD's database a second after she found what she had been looking for.

"This man's fighting is all wrong." Bucky said continuing.

"So we are dealing with an imposter then?" T'Cama asked drawing his own conclusion.

"Yes and I want answers as to why this man is posing as my father." Ray said as she made the situation professional to personal. "I can't do this alone. I wouldn't have asked you guys if I didn't think it could be done. Our mission is going to be to get the imposter out of S.H.E.I.L.D custody."

Ray paused for a moment as she waited for what she had just said to sink in. This was the first time that she had said anything about S.H.E.I.L.D being involved in this yet alone telling the newly formed team that they were going to be breaking into the heavily guarded hellicarrier. Everyone looked at Sanction but no one said anything until Amelia stood up and said, "Are you crazy? This mission is insane."

"I know." Ray simply said nodding her head. She knew how crazy this was and she was about to continue when she realized that Amelia had more to say. Amelia moved from her seat on the end of the sofa to behind it and began to walk up and down for a moment until she continued.

"You want to bust into S.H.E.I.L.D, for the second time may I remind you, and take one of the most well guarded prisoners without getting caught?"

"Yea." Ray said nodding her head, "Pretty much. This imposter is here for a reason and has been sent by someone. Our mission will be to extract that information from him."

The room fell silent for a few moments as everyone began to think about the situation at hand. Ray didn't know what they were thinking and wasn't all entirely sure that she wanted to know either. She knew Amelia was against this and that was why she was going to add something.

"Let me make something perfectly clear to everyone. You do not have to do this. I am not by any means ordering you to accompany me. Anyone want to say something?" Ray asked as she was giving her sister an opportunity to say something against the mission but Amelia remained silent for a while longer. Finally she spoke up.

"This is an insane mission Ray. By doing this, caught or not, by busting into S.H.E.I.L.D, you will be called a traitor to your country. Think about this before you go destroying what little bit of a reputation that you have."

Ray already thought about what her sister was saying now. She knew that she would go down in some people's minds as a traitor just like her father but she didn't care. What could be happening under their noses was bigger than her reputation.

"Thank you for pointing that out Amelia." Ray said pausing and then adding, "Is everyone in?" Ray asked one final time. Bucky knew that he would have to be in on this if he was going to watch Ray's back and keep her out of trouble and there was no way he would let T'Cama and Ray go off alone on a mission like this.

"Yea, I'm in." He said and a moment later T'Cama nodded his head and said, "I will help where I can."

Amelia was trying not to make eye contact with her younger, stubborn, determined, sister. She had always been there to protect and defend Ray but that was against those who would do her harm. It was against villains that wanted her dead. This was different. This was against Tony, the man who had a hand in both of them. There was a lot at stack here and Amelia wasn't enierly sure it was worth it. She could lose her job at SHEILD and possibly be considered a traitor to her country. All for what? A few questions that Ray had for this imposter?

"I'm out." Amelia finally said and that was what Ray was waiting for. She didn't expect her sister to back her up this time around. "This isn't worth the risk. I'm sorry Ray."

Ray simply nodded her head as she watched her protector and defender walk out the door, unwilling to be there this time around. A part of Ray understood and yet Ray felt like screaming, 'You're my sister Amelia! You're supposed to back me up!' Tony had betrayed her by not telling her about the imposter and not letting her talk to him. Now Ray had lost her only sister and she felt that her family was completely against her but no matter. She was determined to get this mission done and get answers that she had been waiting for.

* * *

**A/N: Please Review**


	17. Everything isn't all right

Amelia walked the halls of SHIELD hanger, looking for Tony when she heard Natasha's voice.

"Amelia. I thought you were supposed to be with Ray?"

"Yea I was." Amelia said turning around and trying not making eye contact with her mother.

"Is everything all right?" Natasha asked when she noticed that Amelia didn't seem focused on the conversation at hand and seemed to be upset.

"Huh? Oh yea, everything is fine." Amelia lied. She was worried about Ray and how the mission would go but Amelia had a choice. She could tell her mother and Tony about Ray and what she was planning or she could simply act like nothing was happening. Part of Ray's plan that Amelia couldn't figure out was that she wanted to get caught. Ray may not have said that she wanted to get caught but going into SHIELD the way she wanted to was just asking to get caught.

"Mom," Amelia said when Natasha was walking off, "Everything isn't all right."

"What's wrong?"

"Ray is planning on breaking out the imposter Captain America out of the brig."

"I knew this would happen!" Natasha said as she cursed Tony under her breath in Russian, "Come on."

The two women ran down the hall to Tony's office but had no luck in finding him there. So they quickly made their way to the bridge and sure enough found him there doing some simple tests with the agents on duty. Amelia wasn't sure how to handle this but before she could even say anything to her mother, Natasha walked up to Tony and began the conversation right there in front of the agents.

"Tony what is about to happen, I can honestly say is your fault and it's gonna bite you in the ass."

This caught Tony off guard as he had no idea what he was talking about but regardless he knew what Natasha was doing. Making a scene in front of agents so that he would take her into a room and discuss this privately. She did this just about every time she wanted something done or undone if the case maybe. So Tony humored her and they walked into the conference room that was connected to the bridge and while they walked, Natasha motioned for Amelia to follow them. Once the three of them were in the conference room and the door was shut, Tony began the conversation.

"What the hell are you talking about Natasha?"

"Amelia said that Ray is planning breaking the imposter out." Natasha said and Tony was silent for a moment or two and then said, "When is she planning to move Amelia?"

"Tonight. Sometime soon."

"Okay. I will double up on the security detail." Tony said and was about to leave when he realized that Natasha wasn't going to let him go. "Amelia, can you give us a minute?"

Amelia nodded and left the room and when she did Natasha said, "You need to talk with your daughter."

"Natasha, how many times must I tell you that Ray is not my daughter? I know thats the relationship you have with Amelia but Ray and I are different."

"Your right she's not your daughter by blood and she does not carry your name but you raised her into the woman she is today. That is probably why she is so damn stubborn. She has Steve's stubbornness naturally and then she has yours as well. Talk with her. Find out why she is doing this."

"We know why she is doing this."

"Do we?" Natasha asked and then realized that Tony had nothing to say. She had stumped him as she knew she would. She knew that Tony didn't want to talk and neither did Ray but sooner or later they would have to cross paths and sooner was always better than later.

"What would you have me do Natasha? The girl obviously does not want to talk to me."

"Nit." Natasha said replying in russian, "I think she does but she doesn't want to do it the way you want to. She wants to make a point Tony and she will make it if you let her. You know where she's going to be. You know what she is going to try to do. Go down there and wait for her, alone."

Tony got the hint that Natasha was trying to give him. She didn't want him taking any extra security detail down to the brig with him. This had become more than a simple defending S.H.E.I.L.D. It had become a family affair and it would always be that as long as Ray was hell bent on doing what she was doing. Tony had to put a stop to this and he had every intention of doing so.

* * *

A/N: Please review


	18. The mission

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews. Sorry I took so long putting it up. I had to finalize it but I got busy and didn't have a chance until today. So as always I hope you enjoy.**

* * *

The idea behind the plan was plain and simple. The plan itself was proving to be a little more complex than simple. The idea had originally been that Amelia and Bucky would have landed one of Tony's QuinJets onto the tarmac and try to find out answers through the correct channels. While Ray and T'Cama hunted through SHEILD to find the imposter and bust him out. Now since Amelia was no longer involved in the equation, this made things a little harder since she had probably all ready told Tony, or at least Natasha about her little mission. Nevertheless, Ray was determined to get this done and seeing as how it was now or never Ray used the teleport device to get her and T'Cama to SHEILD while Bucky took a hover car up to do his part of the plan.

Bucky knew that he wouldn't be able to stall long if at all and so this meant that Ray had to work faster than she had before and hopefully that finding the imposter would not pose a problem.

_"Ray, are you in?"_ Came Bucky's voice through the com-link in her ear. He wasn't suppose to check on her but he couldn't help it. He had to know if things were going according to plan or not, so that he could think of a way out for him should he need a fast exit.

"Yes," Ray said simply as she and T'Cama landed at the door that read B-357, "maintain radio silence until further notice."

Ray then looked at T'Cama who took his cue and aimed a bolt of lighting at the cameras in the corners of the hall way, giving them the ability to walk into the room. Ray opened the door and found that this room was the viewing room for the interrogation room, which at that moment was empty.

"Damn it!" Ray said and then looked at T'Cama and said, "They've got to have him in one of the lower levels. That is where the holding cells are. Take my teleporter and look around Bucky you will have to walk him through it." Ray said into her com link as she placed her bracelet on his arm. He looked at it for a moment and then looked at her and simply saw her smile. "You don't have to wear it for long, Love. If you don't wear it, it won't work."

"Right. All right, James, where to?" T'Cama asked and then a moment later T'Cama vanished from Ray's eyes. A moment passed while silence filled the room until Ray spoke once more.

"You can come out." Ray said simply without turning away from the empty interrogation room. To a normal person, it would seem that Ray was talking to herself but she knew who was in the room with her.

"Figured you would know I was here." Came the voice of the one man who could stop her. All he had to do was make one call to the SHEILD agents and have her arrested. Now they all would be up for one hell of a fight but if Tony had wanted to do that, he would not have come down here to begin with. She would all ready be behind a cell or someone would be injured or worse.

"Well I am my father's daughter." Ray said as she finally turned around and saw Tony standing there in his ironman suit, which Ray hadn't seen him wear in forever. She knew what this meant. He wasn't coming to her as Tony Stark director of SHEILD but as Tony Stark Ironman and one time best friend of her father.

There was silence still as Ray looked over Tony's suit. It was still the same classic colors that he wore when he fought alongside her father and the other avengers. It was the same suit that he had come up with after Steve had been killed. His suit was biological in nature and form fitted to his body. The only thing that was missing from the Ironman suit was the helmet but he didn't need that now.

"Why are you doing this?" Tony asked finally breaking the silence and getting down to the real reason they were standing there.

"I could ask you the exact same thing Tony." Ray said crossing her arms and leaning against the glass window. She wanted to talk but she also had to give T'Cama time to find the imposter. Tony didn't say anything and so Ray took that as her cue to begin the conversation. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"I didn't think I needed to." Tony said trying to think of a good reason.

"**What?!"** Ray asked standing up straight, arms still crossed. She was afraid that is she uncrossed her arms that she would take a swing at Tony and she really didn't want to open that can of worms. **"A man shows up pretending to be my father and you don't think you need to tell me? Tony, I should have been the first person you told!"**

"Ray, I don't think he's pretending." Tony said and it was those words that Ray did not want to hear. She didn't want to think that her father was back and then turn out that he was a robot clone or something. She was fine with believing that her father, the famous Captain America, was gone and never coming back but what if this man really was him? What if the man T'Cama was searching for was Steve Rodgers? Tony's words resounded through Ray's mind as she tried to wrap her mind around the possibility that the man that her team was looking for could be her father back from the dead. But why now? It seemed too random to be true. It seemed to perfect to be true. Not that it couldn't be true considering the fact that nearly everyone Ray had been raised around had been pronounced dead at least once but never knowing him had become the norm. How could this man be her father? If Tony had really believed that this man was the real Steve Rodgers then why hadn't he told her? Believing that her father was back from the dead was all the more reason to tell her what was going on.

**"That's all the more reason to tell me tony!" **

Silence filled the room and the tension grew as they tried to find the words to say but neither could for a while. Rage was over coming her as the seconds passed by until finally she couldn't hold it in. She couldn't stand looking at Tony any longer and all she wanted to was take his little head and punch a hole through it. Knowing, however, good and well that she couldn't do that, she spun around and punched the glass window, which shattered. For a moment or two nothing was said as she tried to control her anger before saying anything else but finally she felt that she could talk without trying to punch a hole in Tony's face.

**"If you thought for one flamin' millisecond that that man was my father, you should have come to me!" **

"**I was trying to protect you!" **Tony yelled using the same tone that Ray had used on him. He didn't like doing this but it seemed he had no choice.

"**Protecting me?"** Ray asked still in the same angry tone, as she spun around to glare at Tony, **"From what?! Getting hurt? Cause you've done a damn good job at that."** That was a low blow and Ray knew it but her anger had taken control of this situation.

"**I didn't want to get your hopes up!!" **

"**Get my hopes up?" **Ray asked turning back around, **"Why the hell could I get my hopes up? My father has been dead my whole life. There is no way that man could be my father!" **

"I ran blood tests, Ray." Tony said as he managed to calm his voice, "They came back positive. That man, as far as I can tell, is Steve Rodgers."

_Ray, we have him._ Came Bucky's voice and a split second later T'Cama and the imposter showed up in the interrogation room.

"I guess I'm going to find that out." Ray said acknowledging Bucky's words.

"Ray, don't do this." Tony said, "You won't be able to repair our reputation after this. I won't be able to help you after this."

She nodded to T'Cama and a moment later he and the imposter vanished. Ray turned around to Tony, T'Cama reappeared by her side and she took his hand gently and said, "That is a risk I am willing to take." With that being said, T'Cama got the two of them out of SHEILD and out of Stark's sight, leaving Ray's words to hang in the air and allow Tony to decide his next move.

* * *

**A/N: All right well it seems that I have hit a little bit of a road block and am not sure what to do. please help me out if ya can.**


	19. Just Trying to Protect Her

_**A/N: Okay finally managed to get everything in order and get this chapter up and running. Sorry it took me so long. Please enjoy**_

* * *

When Ray and T'Cama reappeared they were in a base of some sort and when Ray managed to look around she saw old, dusty computer data bases, stairs that looked like they lead to nowhere and crates in different shapes and sizes that it was a wonder what was in them. She looked around for a moment longer and when she looked up she saw a balcony that went around the base and in the center of the balcony was the Captain America imposter.

"He's in an invisible cell, Ray." Came Bucky's voice snapping Ray out of her thoughts. She looked to Bucky who had just come from a blast door and she could only assume that was where he had landed the jet(car).

"Buck, where are we?" Ray asked as she and T'Cama looked around. Neither one had seen this place before and it looked like it hadn't been used in years.

"It's a SHIELD safe house……."

"You brought us to a SHIELD safe house?" Ray asked immediately turning her attention to Bucky and not taking it off of him. "WE just broke out of SHIELD and you brought us to another base?"

"Ray, Love," T'Cama said still looking around, "It doesn't look like it's been operational in years. You really think it still works."

"T'Cama's right Ray." Bucky said as he tried to continue, "Tony won't find us here, if that's what you are worried about."

"And why is that?"

"For starters this base hasn't been used since the Civil War. It was used by the resistance and it was given to them by Nick Fury."

"I still don't see how Tony won't find us here." T'Cama said as he started to agree with his girlfriend.

"The only person besides the members of the resistance, that could access this base was Nick Fury himself and honestly Ray," Bucky continued, "I don't think Tony ever knew about this place."

T'Cama noticed that Ray seemed to relax when she heard Bucky's words but then she tensed right back up when she looked at the imposter on the balcony. She was about to leave and have "chat" with the imposter when T'Cama gently grabbed her arm.

"T'Cama….."

"Love, please be calm about this. You don't know who that man is or what he can do."

"Not yet I don't and I won't unless I talk to him." Ray said and a few moments later T'Cama let her arm go and watched as she used her rocket boots to fly to the imposter. As he watched her to make sure she was all right, Bucky looked at him and said, "T'Cama, she'll be fine."

"Perhaps physically, James but not emotionally. I can all ready see that this has taken a toll on her mind. She is upset all the time over this. I'm just trying to protect her like you told me."

"I know you are son." Bucky said, "Thank you but let's let Ray do this on her own for a moment."

* * *

Tony flew in the ironman suit to the Tower that he called home. So much had happened recently that he felt he needed to get away from SHEILD for a little while and deal with this situation from a different point of view. It was strange to take up the armor once more and fly through the blue cloudless skies of New York. The last time he had put the armor on had almost been the last time he had taken a breath. He's been smashed so hard and smacked around so much that he was nearly beaten to a pulp within the armor. It became a shell that was no longer giving him life but taking it from him. Once he had been rescued by a few avengers, and was laying in the medical bay at SHEILD, two tiny little hands grabbed his tumb and it was then that he realized just how much he had to lose. As he had held the three year old daughter of his best friend, he remembered that he had sworn to protect her in any and every way possible but he couldn't very well do that if he was smashed into the ground or torn to bits and thrown in to space. From then on Ironman didn't exist. He simply became Tony Stark Director of SHEILD and began to make a life that was worth living for the child he was raising.

Walking into his home office, he was greeted by the computer voice that he had programmed into the Tower.

"Welcome home ."

"Thank you Jarvis." Tony replied placing his helmet onto the desk, sitting down and breathing heavy for a moment.

"Is everything all right sir?"

Tony was silent for a moment not thinking he should explain himself to a computerized butler that had been gone for quit some time but nevertheless he explained.

"No, everything's not all right, Jarvis." Tony said, "Pull up the holographic picture logs of the girls, Jarvis."

A moment later the log of pictures that had been taken over the years and converted to holographic image was hovering over Tony's desk. He sat there flipping through the pictures until he came across one of Ray that he had forgotten about.

"Natasha took this one." He said half to himself. "It was Ray's sixth birthday and she so desperately wanted to learn how to ride her bike on her own."

"She did in the end did she not sir?"

"Yes, but that wasn't before she flipped the bike and skinned her face. She had to have stitches put into her chin."

"Part of the learning experiences perhaps."

"Maybe." Tony said looking at the picture of Ray on the light blue bike with him right behind her. She was so happy that day, until they went to the emergency room but even then she knew she would be all right. He knew she would be all right. She always was. So what was different about now? Why was this time any different from that day on her bike?

"Did I do something wrong by her, Jarvis?"

"Sir?"

"I mean when she was growing up, did I do something to make her not want to talk to me or something that made her feel she couldn't talk to me or something like that?"

"I'm afraid, Sir, that is a question I can not answer."

"Of course you can't. You are just a computer program after all."

"Perhaps, but Sir, think about the things you have done right by her. You raised her the way you wanted to yes?"

"I suppose I did. Doesn't replace the fact that Steve should have been the one to raise her and not me." Tony said as he got up from his desk and moved to his drinking station where he poured himself a glass of his favorite wine and then wandered back to his desk and continued to flip through the pictures.

"No it doesn't Sir, but can you sit here wishing things were different?"

"I could sit here and down everything in this drink."

"Sir."

"I know what you mean Jarvis." Tony said when he found a picture of Ray and himself at her high school reunion. He'd been so proud of her that day. As proud as any father would have been of his daughter, even if she wasn't really his. Could that be part of the problem? That he had never really called her his own and always thought of her as Steve's little girl?

"She's out their Jarvis. Trying to do the same thing her father did and I'm again caught on the other side. The same thing happened with her father and it was my fault he died."

"Sir, you can't keep blaming yourself for that. It's been twenty years since Steve's death. You really still blame yourself for that?"

"Ray does." Tony said making a second trip to the drinking station and back to his chair. "I know she tries not to but I don't think she can help it and I don't blame her either. But I don't want the same thing to happen to her."

"Sir, when she flipped that bike what did you do?"

"The same thing any father would do. Took her in my arms and told her it would be all right. Took care of her and cleaned her up."

"Why don't you do the same thing now? Go after her Sir." The computer voice Jarvis asked but Tony simply took a drink of his wine and shook his head.

"Because, Jarvis, I don't think she will let me."

* * *

_**A/N: Sorry for the long wait. I was finally able to get this chapter up and running. I believe I have one more ready to go before I have to start writting again. Hope you enjoyed. Please review. **_


	20. In trouble

**_A/N:thanks for the reviews guys. Hopefully you enjoy this chapter as much as i enjoyed writting it. honestly this was a hard chapter to write but I hope you enjoy it._**

* * *

"Who are you?" Ray asked crossing her arms as she stood in front of the table and starred at the man who was dressed in the uniform that her father once wore, save the mask. She looked into the man's face, the same face that had been given to her father and she couldn't help but feel angry. She wanted to know who the hell this man was and who the hell had created him because this could not possibly be the real Captain America. The man said nothing for a long while and while she hated silences, she hated people who didn't give her the answers she wanted even more.

"Who the hell are you?" Ray asked once more allowing her anger to show in her voice. Typically she would not have allowed this to happen but right now she didn't care. She didn't care who saw her angry or anything like that. All she wanted were answers and this man was going to give them to her, one way or another.

"I'm Steve Rodgers." The man said but that was not the answer she was looking for. She tightened her fist and punched him across the face as hard as she could. The man spat out blood onto the floor and looked at Ray again.

"You're NOT Steve Rodgers!" She yelled, "Let's try this again. Who the hell are you?"

"I've told you who I am!" The man yelled back in the same tone that Ray had used. He wasn't afraid of her but he didn't like being punched either. "If you don't like it then kill me!"

This caught Ray off guard. Kill him? Did he really just say that? She had no intention of killing him but roughing him up a little was defiantly a different story.

"What? You can't kill your own father?" the man asked and Ray stood there for a moment wondering what the hell was going on. Someone had sent this man. How could this man be her father and knew who she was and that she was his daughter when she had never met her real father to being with? Something wasn't right here.

"You're not my father." Ray said grabbing the man by the neck of his uniform and flying him out of the facility. "I'll take you to my real father!"

Ray flew through the sky and to the place where her father was laid to rest. The huge statue that stood in the middle of the cemetery was the only place she knew of that she could prove to this imposter that he was not Steve Rodgers. Upon arriving at the statue, Ray flung the imposter into the ground right next to it. He fell with a huge thud but got to his feet quickly.

"Look behind you!" Ray yelled at the man but he did not move. "Look!" She shouted once more as tears came to her eyes. The man did as he was told and looked at the statue that stood behind him. It was a statue of Steve Rodgers, captain America. A statue of him as far as he was concerned.

"You see that man?" Ray asked and the man nodded, "That man is my father! That man is the one who fought and died, not once, but twice to protect this country that he so dearly loved! That man is the one who you are pretending to be! I will not ask you again sir. Who the hell are you?"

Suddenly, Ray felt that she had eyes upon her back and when she turned around she saw dozens of men dressed in green and yellow suits. She knew immediately who they were and that this whole thing had been a trap.

"Hydra." She said under her breath and then turned back to the imposter and said, "Who the hell sent you?"

"That should be an easy one for you to figure out little girl." He said as he charge Ray and punched her across the face. She stumbled down but quickly got back up and began the fight of her life. The agents of Hydra that once stood behind Ray were now scattered everywhere and were surrounding her and the imposter. How could she have let this happen? She had let her guard down in her anger and hadn't seen this trap coming. Suddenly she looked up after knocking a few Hydra agents to the ground and saw Bucky and T'Cama coming in to the rescue.

"Ray!" Yelled Bucky as T'Cama dropped him from the air and he hit the ground running. He used the shield to beat back several Hydra agents but the thing about Hydra agents was that if you beat one down, two came back in its place.

"It's a trap!" Ray yelled, "Get out of here!"

"And leave you to have all the fun?" T'Cama asked as he weild the lighting that he had inherited from his mother to fry more men. He knew he had to get to Ray before the imposter beat the crap out of her. It wasn't that he didn't have any faith that his girl would and could prevail against this foe but he was indeed stronger than she and faster and it seemed that she didn't have a chance. Before T'Cama could get to Ray, the imposter grabbed her by her ankle and flung her towards the statue, which upon impact, she went straight through.

"James," T'Cama yelled, "I fear we will need more help than just you and I."

"Seems that way."

"Go find Tony and tell him what happened." T'Cama yelled as he saw that Ray was not getting up and infact she was knocked out cold.

"And leave you here? Your mother would kill me."

"Don't worry about mother! Go get help! I will fight here the best I can."

"Fine but I need an exit." Bucky said and the next thing he knew a huge lighting bolt encompassed the hydra agents and fried them for a moment, enough time for Bucky to make his exit. However more Hydra appered and encompaced T'Cama with no time to spare. He fought with everything he had but soon he was hit over the head and darkness encompassed him.

* * *

As Tony continued to look through the pictures, his phone rang and yet he did not answer it. It rang once more and he simply allowed it to ring until the voicemail picked it up.

"Sir, could that have been important?" Came Jarvis's computerized voice.

"If it was important Jarvis they would have……" Tony said but he was interrupted by his private com-link going off, the link that was used by Natasha or any SHEILD agent in case of an emergency.

"Called you on your private line sir?" Jarvis asked as Tony shifted his weight in his feet on the desk and answered the link.

"Stark."

"Sir, you should come to the carrier."

"There a problem?" He asked not taking his eyes away from the pictures. He had gone back to the one of Ray on the bike and had actually left it there for quite some time.

"Possibly Sir. Please, your asstiance is required."

"All right. On my way." Tony said downing the last of his wine and placing the glass on the desk. He stood to his feet, picked his helmet up and simply looked at it for a moment. "You know Jarvis, sometimes I wonder if my life would have been easier if I had never created Ironman."

There was silence for a moment as if Jarvis was thinking of something to say and just when Tony was about to put the mask on, Jarvis spoke up.

"Life would have been different sir but not any easier." Tony smirked to himself as he nodded his head , placed the helmet upon his head and became Ironman once more.

Flying though the air, he realized that the air had suddenly changed. It was much colder than it had been when Tony had flown down to the Tower. Getting closer to the helicarrier, he saw the sky change from cloudless baby blue to black as night.

and on his way to the pad, he heard thunder clapping. Now typically this would not have been strange seeing as how thunder storms occurred every now and then but this one had seemed to come out of the blew. The air had been clear and the skies blue and cloudless. When Tony finally reached the pad and walked outside, he saw a sever thunderstorm occurring. Lighting flashed every second and thunder followed behind just as quickly. The rain was so hard that it felt like rocks falling on top of his head and he was wondering why hail had not started to fall as of yet. This storm was not a normal creation, Tony knew this much and there was only one person who could create such a storm at will. Tony looked directly up and saw a woman dressed in black and gold coming in to land in front of him. Her hair was longer than the last time he had seen her but she was the same woman he had come to know.

"Hello Storm." Tony said as she landed before him and if sudden change in weather weren't enough, then the look on Storm's face definetly told Tony that she was not happy.

"Where is my son?" She asked in a growl that she could only have picked up from Wolverine. After living in a mansion with so many people for so long, it is hard not to pick up a few of people's traits.

"T'Cama?" Tony asked, "I haven't seen him. I have had more pressing matters to attend to."

"Stark, don't play me for a fool."

"My Love, calm the storm." Came a voice from behind Orroro and without turning around she knew who it was.

"I want to know where my son is and Stark has the answer." She said responding to her husband who had come up to the flying building with a jet pack that ironically stark had made years ago.

Tony watched at the Black Panther moved from behind his wife to in front of her and placed himself in between himself and Storm but Tony knew this was not for Storm's protection but for his own. Storm had one hell of a temper and when it came to her children's safty her temper had no tolerance.

"Tony, T'Cama is missing."

"Missing? What are you talking about? For how long?"

"Ororro says that Ray came to the embassy to visit with T'Cama a day ago. He left that night to meet with her because she needed his help." T'Challa said but Storm interrupted him.

"No one has seen him since. I haven't been able to reach him on his phone nor have I been able to reach Ray in any way."

"You assume I know where he is?" Tony asked not sure he understood the situation.

"You are the one who raised Ray, surely you know where they have gone."

"They? You think….?" Tony asked at a loss for words but apparently T'Challa saw this.

"You didn't know? Ray and T'Cama have been seeing each other for some time." With T'Challa's words came the calming of the storm but the rain remained. She realized that she could no longer blame Tony for her son's disappearance but she was still upset.

When Tony heard that the girl he had raised into a young woman had a been seeing a boy for a while, he realized that he didn't know Ray very well. If she could manage to date T'Cama for months without him knowing, something was wrong with the way he ran things.

"When was the last time you saw Ray, Stark?" Came Storm's voice tearing him out of his own thoughts of how he felt he had failed.

"She was here this morning." Tony said choosing his words carefully. He didn't want to tell Black Panther and Storm about the want-to-be Captain America but there son was defiantly involved and was now missing. So what did that mean for Ray?

Before anyone could say anything further a hover car landed on the pad and out jumped Bucky but this was not a typical call for him, Tony realized. Bucky's uniform's left was torn off and revealed his metal arm. His face was bleeding and his shield was missing. Something had gone wrong.

"James." Tony said running to his friend, "Are you all right?"

"Yea I'm fine. I've been worse but Ray's in trouble." Bucky said and then once he saw Black Panther and Storm, he added, "So is T'Cama."

* * *

**_A/N: Please Review. If you have any ideas as to what should happen next please let me know. I know where I want this story to end up but getting there is the hard part. Perhaps ideas would help me get past my writer's block._**


	21. She was right

**_A/N: Thank you for the reviews for the last chapter. I have somewhat gotten unstuck but have been really busy so have had no time until not to post. I hope you enjoy this chapter as you have the others. _**

* * *

Tony raced through the halls of SHEILD with Black Panther, Storm and Bucky right behind him. How could he have let things get out of control like this? He should have followed his gut and had Ray put into a cell for her own protection but then again what would that have done to his relationship with her? All ready she wasn't willing to talk to him. She blamed him for her father's death and even if she tried to hide it, he knew she felt that way. Honestly, he didn't blame her but there was nothing he could do that would bring his best friend back from the dead. Many people in his life time had died and gone away only to return a few years later. Steve had been gone for at a little over twenty years and if he hadn't come back by now, there wasn't a chance in hell that he ever would.

"What's going on?" Came the Black Widow's voice from behind. Bucky slowed down only for a split second which was long enough to tell Natasha to follow them. He knew she wanted to know what was going on and in time she would but he needed to keep up with tony to find out how to fix everything.

The superheroes finally followed Tony in to a darkened room that only he could access. Opening the door, the lights came on to reveal computer data bases everywhere. The main computer sat in the middle of the room with a hologram screen. Immediantly, without saying a word, Tony charged the computer and began working as fast as he could to find his girl.

"Anthony, what's going on?" Natasha's voice came once more but this was the first time Tony had heard her voice. Without looking at the former KGB agent he answered her.

"Ray's in trouble."

"Ray is always in trouble." Natasha said, "She takes after her father."

"Steve always knew how to handle the trouble he got into, Natasha." Tony said. He knew his friend had been in rough spots but this was different. This wasn't one of Steve's plans gone bad. This was Ray's plan that had backfired badly and tony wasn't sure she knew how to get out of it.

"I wasn't talking about Steve, Anthony." Natasha said. It was her opinion that Tony had every right to call Ray his daughter because he was the one that had raised her but he didn't see it that way. True Ray had inherited Steve's need for adventure and perhaps she would have been the woman she was now no matter who had raised her but the trouble she got herself into, was because she was raised by Ironman. He was always getting himself into situations both as Anthony Stark, director of SHEILD and Ironman, leader of the Initiative and original avenger.

"Who has Ray?" Natasha asked but it was Bucky who answered.

"Hydra. The imposter was a trap for Ray."

"She was right." Natasha said saying a secret I told you so to Tony without saying the exact words but she could tell by the way he wasn't looking at her that he got the message.

"How can you be sure the trap was for Ray?" Storm asked, "Could the trap not have been set for someone else and she simply got in the way?"

"That would be a logical guess Storm," Bucky said, "But this is too close to be anything other than a trap for Ray. Whoever is behind this, wants Ray for one reason or another and if we don't do something fast, we may loose our chance at ever seeing her again."

Everyone in the room knew Bucky was right. There was no way he couldn't be right about this. Ray's life was in danger and because her life was in danger, so was T'Cama's. As much as Storm hated to hear that her oldest son was in over his head, she knew he had been trained well and had the skills of both herself and his father combined. If he could get himself free of what ever held him, he would surly be able to not only save himself but the woman he loved.

"Who is running Hydra these days?" Black Panther asked. He hadn't faced the hydra in a very long time seeing as how most of his work was done at the Wakanda palace.

"It's not the leader of Hydra we have to be worried about." Bucky said point blank as he looked at Tony who finally met his gaze. When their eyes met, Bucky knew tony knew who he was talking about. There was only one person in this world that would be after Ray for something that she couldn't control.

"Who do we have to be worried about?" Storm asked as she continued to pray for the safty of not only her son but for Ray as well. Ray was the one that was in the middle of this and if she didn't like the girl so much then she would have surly blamed her for putting T'Cama's life in danger.

"Sin." Tony said speaking the name of the daughter of the man who was truly responsible for killing the soul of America. She was the only one who would want revenge on Ray for the life she had been given and for being alive to begin with. If they found Sin, they would surely find Ray and T'Cama. Now the only problem was finding them both.

* * *

_**A/N: Please review. This is shorter than most of the other chapters but the next chapter will be longer and I didn't want to cut the next one in half. So please let me know what you think. **_


	22. chains and pains

**_a/n: enjoy_**

* * *

Waking up was dreadfully painful. She felt the pain that the beating had caused and she could feel the blood running down her legs, onto her bare feet and slowly dripping onto the floor. Her head pounded with in her skull and felt as if it would explode at any moment. It was as if someone was on the inside of her head and hitting her brain with a baseball bat, repeatedly. Her chest tight and her breaths short, she had wished that she had won the battle with the imposter but unfortunately she had lost. Her wounds were not of the critical nature but she did need to get them treated. However, if she was right about whom her captor was, that would never happen.

Once she had examined her body and knew what was physically wrong with her, she changed her train of thought and began to examine where she was. The room was dark and it was hard to tell what else or who else was in the room but she knew one thing: She was chained to a wall. Her arms were above her head and spread to either side and her legs were spread out as well but they were pulled closer to the wall than her arms. Once She had established where she was, she knew she had to find a way out. She was not about to allow her captor to hold her here forever and use her for whatever purpose he or she had for her and then kill her once they were done with her. She began to move her feet and she found that once she moved her feet, the slack in the arm chains would tighten and go to the feet. If she backed up to the wall completely, the slack that had been in the feet chains would be transferred back to the chains of the arms and allow Ray more movement of her arms. She placed her back to the wall and managed to touch her hands together and began to bust the lock open however she received a nasty bolt of electricity instead. Ray fell towards the ground only to be saved by the chains that held her captive. She sat dangling above the ground for a moment or two before getting up and trying to escape once more but it only resulted in pain.

"Keep that up and you will be dead within two hours." Came a voice that she had prayed would not be involved in this whole mess but of course the voice was involved. It was probably the one in charge of the whole thing.

"You're probably going to kill me anyway, aren't you? I mean the apple doesn't fall far from the tree."

"Funny, I could say the same thing about you and your parents." The woman said as she turned a light on and revealed that she was standing in front of Ray's cell. Ray looked at the bars and knew that someone was afraid that she would escape the chains. It made them feel better to have the chains with in the cell but if she could bust out of the chains, busting bars was no sweat. This meant that they were scared of her and she could defiantly use this to her advantage, if only she could get out of the chains she was in.

"What do you want with me?" Ray asked the woman who stood in front of her. There was no need to ask who she was because Ray all ready knew. The woman standing before her was the daughter of the evil man who had brainwashed her mother into killing her father. Ray had never actually met her before but she knew all about her and what she had done in place of her father before he had died. Since he had died, she had gone underground as far as villainous activities went.

"I have been waiting twenty years for this." She said as she opened the cell and walked in and showed Ray that she wasn't the one that was afraid of her. She had no reason to fear the daughter of Captain America and Agent 13 but she had a reason for bringing her here.

"Ever since my father captured Agent 13, he never looked at me. He always paid attention to her and made sure that everything was just right. Can you imagine how I felt when I found out it was all because she was carrying a child?" She said getting into Ray's face, "I tried to take out your mother at one point before you were born but that backfired on me as well. I stabbed her and when my father found out he cursed me and wouldn't have anything to do with me. Now that didn't bother me as much as he wasn't even concerned if I was all right and it's all because of you."

Ray didn't say anything for a moment as she was still trying to figure out how to get out. She prayed that T'Cama and Bucky were all right and that she was the only one here but something told her otherwise. She wasn't sure if it was the feeling in her gut or the look in Sin's eyes that told her T'Cama was in trouble. Taking a wild guess, Ray looked Sin dead in the eyes and spoke.

"Where is he?"

"Who? You're Beau?" Sin asked as if she didn't know who Ray was talking about but she had just told Ray what she wanted to know. Sin had captured T'Cama. If Sin was going to take her anger out on her, that was one thing. She could take anything Sin dished out but Ray would not stand for a hand being laid on T'Cama. She knew he could handle it but that wasn't the point. He shouldn't have to handle something that wasn't his fault. She had dragged him into this when she never should have. If only she had done this alone then she would be here alone to deal with this.

"If you lay a hand on him…."

"You'll what? Hit me with your daddy's SHEILD?" Sin asked mocking not only Ray but her father as well. She knew she was making Ray mad and that is exactly what she wanted to do. She wanted to see fire in her enemy's eyes right before she put it out. This day had finally come after years of careful preparation and she would relish every moment of it. "Ray or would you rather me call you Sanction? Seems to be appropriate to call an enemy by her 'name' when she is about to die. Well Sanction, you are powerless to stop me from doing anything to you or to your beau. My goal was only to get you and make you pay for everything you have done to me but I got a bonus in getting the son of the king and queen of Wakanda! Not even my father could have scored such a bonus! No Sanction, you won't do anything to stop me. No matter what!"

Sin then wound up her fist and decked Ray across the face, causing her nose to bleed but it would take a lot more than simply decking her across the face to make her do anything. She had never been captured by her mortal enemy but she had been trained not only by agents of SHEILD but by Ironman himself. He had trained her in dealing with pain when fighting and how to keep her mouth shut when it came to top secret projects of SHEILD. Sin would not get anything out of her simply by decking her across the face. Ray expected Sin to hit her once more and to being her torture but she didn't. In fact, Sin began to do the exact opposte. She back way from Ray as she wipped her hand of Ray's blood and simply stood staring at her for moments on end. Ray had never been more nervous in her life, although she didn't show it. Why was Sin just starring at her? What was going through her head as her eyes looked her up and down? None of this made any sense but then again did her own life ever make sense?

"Why are you starring at me?" Ray finally managed to force herself to say. She didn't want to let Sin know that she was making her feel uncomfortable but she had to know what Sin was going to do and the only way to find that out was going to be to ask.

"I want to tell T'Cama what you look like before he dies." Sin said and just when Ray thought she was going to walk out of the room and leave her to her thoughts, Sin surprised her by coming to her and whispering in her ear.

"I will make you suffer before I let you die." Sin backed away and it was almost as if she licked her lips of the venom that ran out of her mouth. "Then once I have broken you, you will do whatever I tell you to!" Sin said as she left the cell but as she was about to leave the room, she turned on a monitor across from the cell. When it turned on, Ray saw the man she cared about more than any other on the screen. He seemed to be all right for the moment and that pleased Ray but she knew what was about to happen to him. His arms were chained to the wall behind him just as her's were. She knew his powers were being held back as well. She knew that if some how he could break free, he would be able to handle himself but she didn't know if he could. She wanted nothing more than for him to be home safe at that very moment. This was her fault and she never should have dragged him into this mess to begin with.

"Please don't do this!" Ray simply said. She wasn't about to beg Sin for anything but she did not want to see her man get hurt. Not like this. This was not suppose to happen this way. She should have been able to protect him from this. She had the strength her father had given her so why wasn't she strong enough? Why wasn't she strong enough to save the man she loved from this torment?

"I don't think you're in a place to make that request, Sanction." Sin said as she turned her attention back to the monitor. A man who has some sort of long staff style device came into view. He wore the traditional markings of Hydra and Ray thought he might have been among the men who attacked earlier. The man pushed a single button on the device and a second later the device glowed a beautiful blue. The glow was nearly the only source of light in the room and it revealed burses on T'Cama's face. They weren't bad but they were bruises none the less. The man aimed the blue light at T'Cama and stuck him in the stomach. T'Cama arched his back and bit his lip to prevent her from hearing his screams. Tears came to Ray's eyes as she knew she couldn't do anything at that moment. She had always hated to see him in pain. It was one thing if he was in pain from injuries he had gotten from some battle he had gone on with his father but this was different. She couldn't bear to watch her love in pain without her being able to place her hands on him to make him feel slightly better. To make him forget the pain. She couldn't stand hearing him moan when the pain was too much to bare.

"I swear to you Sin," Ray said finally allowing her enemy to hear the anger in her voice. She spoke in a growl that to a normal person would have feared but of course Sin was not afraid of her. Sin simply wanted revenge and a battle to the death. Well if that was what she wanted then that was what she would get. "I swear to you, if he dies, I will make sure you die a very painful, slow death!"

Sin simply smiled as she turned to her enemy and watched her eyes look her over. "You have such determination." She said after a few moments and then added, "It's a shame I can't put that to better use."

As if a light bulb went off in her mind, a smile came to Sin's lips and Ray could see the wheels turning with in her mind. Whatever she was going to come up with, it was not going to be anything good. Then, finally, Sin left the room, leaving Ray to her thoughts and to continually watch helplessly as the man she loved was being tortured.

* * *

**_a/n: please review and let me know what you think. After this chapter, I know where I want to go but getting there is an issue. if you have any ideas on where the story should go, please feel free to let me know. _**


	23. Beacon

**A/N: Okay, I know it has been forever since I last updated this story (or any of my unfinished stories for that matter) and I am sorry for that. I have been extremely stuck as well as extremely busy. I believe I have gotten past the writer's block for now. This is a short chapter but I thought yall might like something to read to continue this story. So enjoy. **

* * *

It had been hours since the hydra man had tortured him or at least it had felt like hours. He didn't know how long it had been really because there was no sense of time in a cell with any windows. In a cell with no light there was nothing to keep track of time. All he knew was that Ray needed him now more than ever and he had to find a way to escape the clutches of Sin. This whole thing had been a trap and deep down in his gut he had known all along that it had to have been set for her. Why hadn't he tried harder to stop her from going off alone with the imposter? Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that she could throw him through a solid brick wall if she wanted to. He knew that his love would never hurt him and would never do anything to harm him physically, mentally or emotionally but when she was angry there was no stopping her. When T'Cama saw the fire in her eyes, he knew not to push her any further than she had all ready been pushed. When the fire in her eyes dimmed down, he knew it would be fine to talk to her once more about whatever it was that had made her mad but not before then. He knew how Ray worked and he knew that even though she wasn't going to let Sin, or anyone else for that matter, know, she was terrified. She was terrified and he swore that he would bust them out one way or another. No matter what it took.

The entire time he had been held captive he had been trying to reach his left boot but had yet to be able to do so. He knew if he could get that boot off, he would be able to get free. His mother had taught him all her tricks in how to get out of chains and locks and he had mastered the skill. Now if only he could master the skill of moving his foot from out from behind him. Closing his eyes and biting his lip to prevent himself from groaning, he leaned as far as he could to reach his boot and finally grabbed it. Once his hand was on it, he didn't find the lock pick at first. Instead he found a small button that had been sown into the fabric of his homemade boots. He knew exactly what this was and before he did anything else, he pressed the button. Now, he could continue with finding the pick to get out. After a few more moments of squirming around, he found the lock pick that had been sown into the fabric of the handmade boots. He had not picked a lock in quite sometime but that was not going to stop him from freeing himself and saving the woman he loved. Grabbing the lock pick, he began to pick the lock on the chain on his left foot. This escape, he knew would be slow going but he had all the time in the world, right? The only thing he could do now, aside for pick locks, was to wait and pray that the button in his boot was doing it's job.

* * *

_**SHIELD HELICARRIER**_

As the Parents of the two captured heroes were standing around the hologram screen of the computer, everyone heard a beeping noise being. At first, everyone stood completely still as they were not sure what it was or where it was coming from.

"What's that?" Tony asked curiously, as was everyone. The beeping noise itself was low pitch but with every second that passed, the beeping's pitch got higher. He had never heard a noise quite like it and wondered who could have been the creator of it. Of course, seeing as how it was unidentified, an attack did seem likely to Tony and just as he was about to jump into Action, T'Challa snapped his fingers. His realization halted Tony's actions long enough for the panther king to pull out a small square box from his belt. The box had three lights on it, a green, yellow and orange that were blinking constantly.

"Okay, what is that?" Tony asked again but of course, now it had a different meaning.

"It's a locator beacon." Panther said replying to his friend as he turned the becon's volume down slightly. "Richards gave this to me, years ago when Storm and I were first expecting T'Cama. He wanted me to test it out for him."

"Of course that's what he says." Storm said speaking up for a moment, "Reed really gave it to him because T'Challa was worried about T'Cama being out in the kingdom alone."

"Do you blame me dear?" T'Challa asked his bride looking at her lovingly. Natasha had been watching how the two of them acted towards each other and even though their son was lost, they still showed love for one another. She had always wondered what it would have been like to find someone like that. To settle down and really be with someone but then again, this life of hero work was always exciting.

"Not one bit." Storm said with a smile.

"So your saying that T'Cama has the other end of that beacon?" Tony asked trying to come up with some sort of plan off the top of his head. They needed a plan. They needed a way in and they needed to get Ray and T'Cama back. If this beacon was the thing that could get them what they needed, then he wanted to know everything about it.

"Yes, Stark." T'Challa said, "It is a tracing beacon. All my children have one for their own protection."

"T'Challa, why didn't you tell us this earlier?" Bucky asked. His way of thinking was that if Black Panther had spoken up about the device sooner, they could all ready be on their way to getting Ray and T'Cama.

"The beacon was not on until just now." T'Challa said, "The beacon is useless to me unless it is activated by one of my children. Each of them have a trigger handsown into an article of clothing. T'Cama's is in his boots. Henry's is in his belts and Lillian's is in the collar of all her shirts."

"So T'Cama was able to activate his." Natasha said, "But this could be a trap. Sin could have found the device and is planning for us to come get him."

"I'm willing to take that risk, Natasha." Storm said speaking up. "A mother will face any odds to get her child back. I know you would do the same for your daughter. I will do nothing less for my son."

"Now we have a way to find T'Cama." Bucky said, "And where ever T'Cama is, Ray shouldn't be too far behind."

"Yes." T'Challa said and then turning to Tony and adding, "Plugging this into a map system of a plane would enable us to find them a lot faster."

"Consider it done." Tony said as he picked up his com-linkl and arranged for a quin jet to be ready for them in no time at all

* * *

A/N: Please review. More will be coming soon.


	24. Surprise, Surprise

**a/n:**** I'm sorry for it being so long since I have updated this story. I have been stuck on it as well as have had other things going on but summer is here so hopefully I can finish this story soon. Enjoy**

* * *

Walking the halls of the castle she had been living in ever since this plan began, she was soon joined by Zola, the computer Nazi who had worked for her father for so many years, was now somewhat under her control. He was still loyal to her father but he did what she asked, usually.  
"i trust everything is in order?" she said without turning around and continuing to walk down the hall way.  
"It is." Zola replyed in his computer voice, "You should know Sin that having the daughter of your father's enemy here was not the best idea."  
Zola's words reached Sin's ears and Zola wished he could take his words back as Sin spun around on her heals and glared at him. He knew her to be as ruthless as her father. As a child she hadn't been that way. As a teen she had simply longed for her father's attention but now, with everything that had happened, if Sin was crossed, that was the end of it. In some ways she was more ruthless then her father could ever be and Zola had a feeling that now was one of those times.  
"Despite appearances Zola, my father is not in charge here!" Sin said in a surprisingly even tone. However it was her even tone that meant she was furious. "If I want to bring the daughter of my father's enemy here, then I will do so! I no longer have to answer to my father!"  
"but you do answer to me.' Came a deep voice from behind Sin. As she turned around, and Zola made his exit, Sin saw Victor Von Doom standing before her. His arms crossed and dressed his his usual Doctor Doom garb. "Zola is right. Bringing Sanction and T'Cama here was not part of the plan."  
"it was always part of the plan. My plan anyway." Sin said, "You of all people should know about hidden agendas."  
"You of all people should know that i don't do anything to help others simply to help others. There is always a price."  
"And i will ensure that you get your price when this is finsihed." Sin said as she began to follow Doom through the castle and into what seemed to be a science lab of sorts. There was a tone of equipment lying around, including a multitude of Robots.  
"No you won't Sin." Came a voice from a dark corner of the room. it was a voice that Sin had not heard in years and one she never thought she would hear again. Looking deeper into the far left corner she saw one of the robots move. It began to walk towards her and doom and when it came closer she realized who it was.  
'Father?" she asked shocked. This had not been the plan either. She knew the plan with doom had been to attempt to bring her father back and use the clone in the event that it actually happened but she never thought it would actually have worked. "Your alive? but how...Doom, you knew about this? And kept it from me?"  
"It's like you said, 'you of all people should know about hidden agendas.'".

* * *

_**Quinjet**_  
Tony and T'Challa piloted the Quinjet that the two had built somewhat together. A Wakandan design group had aided in building and designing the jet but it was ultimately Tony's money that had brought the jet to life. this was a newer model but as expected, the jet usually didn't have a long life span. Especially when it was used by the Avengers. Before taking off, T'Challa had handed the beacon to his wife and now she was programing it into the navigations and map systems. Before too long, A 3d holographic image of the earth appeared in the middle of the isle in between Bucky and Natasha.  
"Have you gotten the location yet?" T'Challa asked his wife lovingly.  
"Yes, dear." Storm said, "The signal is coming from...

"Is that where I think it is?" Bucky asked, knowing the answer already as he looked at the hologram.

"That can't be right." Natasha said to herself.

"Where is the signal coming from?" Tony asked, wanting answers. The faster they got the signal, the faster they could find Ray and T'Cama.

"Tony," Natasha began, "The signal is coming from Latveria."

"Doom's place?" Bucky asked, "Why is it coming from there?"

"Maybe Sin and Doom have teamed up." T'Challa began, "Either way, that is where we are going. Regardless of what we are up against."

* * *

It had been a while since Ray had last seen Sin and she had exhausted herself attempting to escape her prison. She wanted more than anything to be able to escape and find T'Cama and make sure that he was all right. She had sworn that if Sin had killed him or hurt him any further, she would personally see to it that Sin died a very slow and extremely painful death. He was most defiantly the love of her life and would do anything to ensure his safety. Her thoughts were suddenly interrupted when she heard something crash in the corner farthest from the door. She had thought she was the only one in the room but apparently not. The room was still as dark as it had been before and even with her eyes used to the darkness, she still couldn't see.

"Whose there?" She asked hoping to get a response but wasn't sure. After a few moments, she heard a soothing voice.

"It's me love."

"T'Cama?" She asked surprised, "What? How...?"

"That is not important right now my love." T'Cama said as he turned on a flashlight that was on his left wrist. He aimed it at Ray and saw that she was exhausted and wounded. He imagined that the chains had something to do with torturing her but that would soon be over. "What is important is that I get you out of here."

Suddenly the two young heroes heard footsteps coming close to the door as T'Cama began to pick the lock to the cell.

"T'Cama, get out of here!" Ray said but he would not stop. "Darling, leave."

"Not without you!" He said, "I am not leaving you here to die!"

"T'Cama, I don't care about me right now." Ray said. T'Cama glanced at her face for a moment and saw tears falling from her pleading eyes. "Please, get out while you still can." She said once more as they heard the door being unlocked. They both knew it was only a matter of a few seconds before the door opened and T'Cama was caught. She watched as he reluctantly stopped picking the lock, shut the light off and made his way back the way he came.

The lights came on and Ray saw Zola and a few guards come into the room. This was the first time she had seen Zola in person but she knew all too well who he was. Stories of her father's adventures against the Red Skull had detailed the scientist very well. Zola stood in front of her for a moment but she refused to look at him.

"I am zola." He said.

"I know who you are." Ray said, still not looking at him. "I know all about my father's enemies."

"Of that I am sure." He said and then motioned for the Hydra agents to unchain her. "I trust you won't try to escape. That would not go well for you if you did."

Escape hadn't even come to her mind. She wanted to get Sin. If she escaped now, she wouldn't even know where to begin to look for her. If she allowed herself to be taken now, Zola would lead her right to Sin and she would have her chance. AS soon as Ray was taken out of the room, T'Cama dropped from the air vent. He hadn't left like Ray had begged him to. He just wouldn't get caught. There was no way he was going to leave this place, not now. Not when Ray needed him the most. She may not have known that he was following them but as long as he had eyes on her, things would be alright.

* * *

**a/n: please review. I know roughly where I am going with this but if you have any ideas as to what should happen next, I am open and willing to consider them. **


End file.
